ATLANTA -- Campus Pride was selected as a national partner by the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation, the worldʼs first organization dedicated solely to combatting bullying, regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status or sexual orientation.

World-champion rugby player Ben Cohen, the first straight sports star to use his celebrity to raise funds and awareness for the benefit of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community, kicked off his international foundation last week in Atlanta during the inaugural stop of his Acceptance Tour 2011, which will also visit New York, Washington DC and Seattle. Cohenʼs philanthropic work has been covered by The Guardian (UK), CNN and The New York Times among other media outlets.

"We are proud to partner with Campus Pride. They have a long, successful track record of working with educators and students to make campuses more inclusive for and accepting of LGBT people. Raising awareness of and funds for their tireless, on-the-ground work is very important to all of us here at the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation," said Ben Cohen, MBE, chair of the foundation.

In light of recent high-profile LGBT bullying, the Atlanta-based StandUp Foundation will coordinate and fund specific anti-bullying programs around the world. The StandUp Foundation will partner with four select groups in the United States: Campus Pride, the Human Rights Campaign, the Matthew Shepard Foundation and the Trevor Project. International partners will come at a later date.

“Every human being has the right to love and be loved, and I want to be a bridge between LGBT and straight communities to create a kinder world,” Cohen, the married father of two, says. His cause is as personal for him as it is for his fans; his father was brutally beaten to death in 2000.

NEW YORK TIMES FEATURES CAMPUS PRIDE

How to Find a Gay-Friendly Campus?

CAMPUS PRIDE'S NATIONAL LGBT COLLEGE FAIR PROGRAM

THEY ARE HERE TO RECRUIT YOU
Colleges Reach Out as Never Before
by John Schwartz

READ THE ENTIRE STORY ONLINE
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/education/edlife/18guidance-t.html

The scene was similar to one that plays out thousands of times a year in gyms and auditoriums around the country: a college fair. The folding tables, the school banners, the admissions officers with a student representative or two, and the brochures and tchotchkes laid out. The only thing that might have made this one appear out of the ordinary was the preponderance of handouts with rainbow designs, and the fact that the fair was being held at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in Greenwich Village. This college fair, and several like it around the country, was devoted to recruiting gay students.

“Actually going out and recruiting a gay student — that’s a very new thing for colleges,” says Shane L. Windmeyer, the co-founder of Campus Pride, a national organization that promotes safe college environments for gay students and sponsored the event.

While Ivy League schools are often represented, the fairs also attract lesser-known institutions like Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Scott A. McIntyre, associate director of admissions there, says that his university attends some 500 fairs each year, and that including one for gay students made sense.

Civil rights leader and highly-acclaimed furniture designer Mitchell Gold
to speak about his book CRISIS and the toll based bigotry

Charlotte, NC, Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010 – The national, Charlotte-based Campus Pride (www.campuspride.org) and local Time Out Youth (www.Time Out Youth.org) have partnered for a joint fundraising event on Thursday, Feb 25 to bring attention to lesbian,gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally youth in the Charlotte area.The fundraiser will take place at 6 p.m. at Myers Park Baptist Church(1900 Queens Road) and then continue at 8 p.m. at Petra’s Piano Bar(1919 Commonwealth Avenue). No tickets are necessary; however, donations are encouraged.

Titled “Believe In Youth,” the one night only event will feature civil rights leader and author Mitchell Gold and his book "CRISIS: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay In America." A resident of Hickory, NC, Gold is a nationally recognized leader in the furniture industry as well as the founder of Faith In America, a national nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness of the harm caused to LGBT Americans by religion-based bigotry and prejudice.

Gold has been honored nationally for his work and most recently in 2009 received a "Visionary Award" from the Stonewall Foundation in New York for his work with Faith in America and for publishing his recent book CRISIS. The book has been hailed as an important tool for understanding the immense harm to LGBT people when prejudice, discrimination and violence toward them is given moral and religious approval.

REGISTER NOW

2010 Regional LGBT & Ally College Conferences

Every year thousands of LGBT college students and their allies meetfrom coast to coast to network, learn and celebrate with PRIDE. Choose from several LGBT national events and regional conferences across the United States. REGISTER NOW.

Feb 19-21 -- Midwest BGLTA College Conference
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
http://www.mblgtacc.org

Feb19-21 -- Western Regional LGBTQIA Conference
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
http://www.comeoutwest.org

April 2-4 -- Power of One Northwest LGBT Conference
Co-hosted by Washington StateUniversity and University of Idaho
http://www.nwlgbtleadership.wsu.edu/

Apr16-18 -- Northeast LGBT Conference
University at Buffalo – http://www.nelgbtc.com

Campus Pride is a Proud Partner

Believe In -- Campus Pride. Campus Pride is the leading national nonprofit organization 501(c)(3) for student leaders and campus organizations working to create safer, more LGBT-friendly colleges and universities. It exists to give "voice and action" in building future LGBT and ally leaders. More information online at www.campuspride.org