Next Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, you're invited to join Campus Pride Executive Director Shane Windmeyer and Campus Pride's Queer Research Institute for Higher Education scholar and 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People co-author Sue Rankin, associate professor in education policy studies/college student affairs at The Pennsylvania State University, for a special webinar exploring critical issues for LGBT student safety and inclusion on college campuses.

From PaperClip Communications: "This fall, Elmhurst College (IL) became the first college in the nation to ask applicants about sexual orientation. Other colleges are considering this move as well as other ways that they can create a more welcoming environment for their LGBT population on campus. While there have been strides in understanding concerns relevant to the LGBT population, it is essential that academia address the emerging issues and concerns impacting LGBT people within institutions of higher education. The Campus Pride "2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People" revealed an alarming degree of harassment and discrimination toward LGBT people."

Learn more about the webinar and sign up...

Campus Pride Favorite New Books
THE LIVES OF TRANSGENDER PEOPLE

by Genny Beemyn and Susan R. Rankin
NOW AVAILABLE
Buy online at http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14306-6/the-lives-of-transgender-...

Responding to a critical need for greater perspectives on transgender life in the United States, Genny Beemyn and Susan (Sue) Rankin apply their extensive expertise to a groundbreaking survey—one of the largest ever conducted in the U.S.—on gender development and identity-making among transsexual women, transsexual men, crossdressers, and genderqueer individuals. With nearly 3,500 participants, the survey is remarkably diverse, and with more than 400 follow-up interviews, the data offers limitless opportunities for research and interpretation.

Celebrate National Coming Out Day with our "Top 25" Best of the Best LGBT Favorites! These artists, entertainers, speakers educate, enlighten and entertain at colleges and universities across the country.

Campus Pride officially releases the 2011 HOT LIST! The list represents our "Top 25 LGBT Favorites" -- lecturers, comedians, musicians. poets, artists, researchers, activists and more. Every year Campus Pride picks the most diverse, provocative, inspiring and enlightening artists/speakers as a resource for your LGBT student organization. The purpose is to provide a recommendation of the BEST OF THE BEST in planning your campus events and activities.

The artists/speakers listed are not only our SIZZLING HOT PICKS but they also rate highly among recommendations from LGBT young adults at colleges and universities across the country. If you want to create change -- PICK FROM OUR TOP 25 LGBT FAVORITES!

Sir Ari Gold 
Mia Mingus
Ben Cohen, MBE
Lava Love Dance
Divas of Diversity
Randi Driscoll
Vidur Kapur
Sue Rankin, Ph.D.
Jonathan D. Lovitz
Kit Yan
Hudson Taylor
Judy Shepard
BeBe Zahara Benet
LZ Granderson
Ben Lerman
Brian Sims
Shane L. Windmeyer
Robyn Ochs
Mara Kiessling
Geri Jewell
Cathy Renna
Michael Holtz
Emanuel Xavier 
Daniel Hernandez Jr.
Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington

More information online at www.CampusPride.org/HotList

NOW YOU HAVE AN AFFORDABLE WAY TO PROGRAM FOR YOUR CAMPUS COMMUNITY AROUND LGBT ISSUES

REGISTER FOR ANY WEBINAR IN THE CAMPUS PRIDE SERIES & HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN A FREE REGISTRATION ($795 value) FOR YOUR COLLEGE TO ATTEND THE CAMPUS PRIDE SUMMER LEADERSHIP CAMP IN JULY 2012.

Campus Pride Announces the Fall 2011 Webinar Series featuring a diverse selection of topics, ideas and resources for your campus community. Your campus pays one flat fee and can have up to 5 locations per webinar-- its the most affordable way to enlighten, educate and entertain LGBT and ally students, faculty and staff. Every webinar registration also gets a free web recording to share on your campus for those who may not be able to attend. Email any questions to info@campuspride.org.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Research & Action: Religious-Based Bigotry on College Campuses

Moderator: Shane Windmeyer, Campus Pride
Guest Presenter: Warren Blumenfeld, Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Iowa State University & QRIHE, Campus Pride

3 p.m. EST - $95 per site includes web recording

REGISTER NOW

Early-bird discount registration is open until May 25; Scholarships and financial assistance are available until June 1, 2011.

[Nashville, TN] – Campus Pride announced today the list of national speakers and artists to be featured at its fifth annual summer leadership camp, affectionately known as “Camp Pride.” Among the list is the “Next Drag Superstar” winner of Season 1 of Logo’s hit show RuPaul’s Drag Race Bebe Zahara Benet. Her appearance is being sponsored as part of Divas of Diversity from Hope’s Voice just confirmed today.

Camp Pride is the only one of its kind for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally college students from colleges and universities across the country. The camp will take place from July 19 to 24, 2011 and will be hosted on the campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville,TN. Registration is available online at http://www.CampusPride.org/CampPride. Early-bird discounted registration has been extended to May 25, 2011.

Keynote highlights will include Daniel Hernandez, Jr.,the young gay college student credited for saving U.S. Representative Gabriel Giffords life in Arizona shooting; Dr. Sue Rankin, nationally-known LGBT campus climate researcher, Bleu Copas, an Arabic translator discharged in 2006 from the U.S. Army under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; T. J. Jourian, as seen on Logo’s show “TransGeneration,” Mara Kiessling, President of the National Center for Transgender Equality; Shane Windmeyer, best-selling national author and Executive Director of Campus Pride; and Robyn Ochs, Bi-Activist, Trans Advocate & National Public Speaker.

Campus Pride is ramping up its Spring 2011 Webinar Series. There's lots of great things in store this season, as we discuss campus hate crimes, the lives of transgender people on campus, suicide prevention, creating change in intercollegiate athletics and LGBT-inclusive college admissions and recruiting.

Register for any webinar in the Campus Pride Series and have a chance to win a FREE registration ($795 value) for your college to attend the Campus Pride Summer Leadership Camp in July 2011.

The webinar series, presented in partnership with CampusSpeak, aims to develop necessary resources, programs and services to support LGBT and ally students on college campuses across the United States.

Read more about each of the webinars this spring after the jump and get in on the action!

Now that President Barack Obama has signed a repeal to the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, and as implementation of repeal proceeds forward in the next year, how should colleges prepare?  As a former U.S. Army officer commissioned through ROTC (and very proud of both), I tried to put myself back in time to think about what I might have needed had this repeal occurred during my college/ROTC years.

The Department of Defense (DOD) December 2010 report on DADT repeal implementation pays little attention to how colleges should prepare for the DADT repeal and the impacts on ROTC programs and cadets at civilian colleges.  Although ROTC programs were mentioned briefly in parts of the report, e.g., repeal would not likely increase ROTC candidate numbers or recruiters’ access to college campuses, there are no clear implementation steps for college administrators to follow in that report.  Leaders at universities will need to create their own implementation plans to ensure a smooth a transition on campus post-repeal.

Recommendations to College and University Leaders

The impact to colleges and universities will depend on campus leadership.  Following are some tips on how college leaders (at institutions with or without ROTC programs) might begin to plan for any impacts following the President signing the DADT repeal into law.  This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but offers some “action steps” that administrators and student leaders can think about as repeal becomes a reality.

Read the recommendations, after the jump...

Release of Campus Pride’s 2010 HOT LIST! marks ‘best of the best’ in LGBT actors, comedians, lecturers, performers; comes on heels of what some say is exclusive, ill-chosen speaker/performer set at this year’s NACA Conference.

Campus Pride, the nation’s leading non-profit working to create safer, more LGBT-inclusive colleges and build future LGBT and ally leaders, announces today its 2010 HOT LIST!, the “Top 25 LGBT Favorites” including out lecturers, comedians, musicians. poets, artists, researchers, activists and more. The list serves as a unique resource for LGBT college student organizations, college activities coordinators, student life officials and others looking to bring the best and brightest talent to their campuses while also increasing awareness, inclusion and visibility of LGBT people.

This year’s release of the HOT LIST! couldn’t come at a better time, as activists and professionals ask why this year’s National Association of Campus Activities (NACA) conference failed to adequately include out LGBT people in their roster of speakers, performers and workshop leaders. Some organizers are shocked, especially in light of the national attention surrounding LGBT youth suicides the last month.

“That NACA would include only one openly queer person in their national conference line-up this year is a sign there’s still more work to do in increasing visibility for LGBT people on college campuses and the associations that serve them across the country,” says Adrienne Jones, student activist and Hot List volunteer coordinator. “We hope our 2010 HOT LIST! fills in the void and serves to provide unique recommendations for planning in campus activities. NACA should take note.”

The 2010 HOT LIST! includes the most diverse slate of nationally-respected performers, speakers, actors and lecturers to date and some of the nation’s most well-known, outspoken advocates for LGBT people.
This year’s HOT LIST! includes, among others: Musicians A.J. Shanti and Katastrophe, performance and spoken word artists Athens Boys Choir and Kit Yan, drag performer Sherry Vine, first and only openly gay college football team captain Brian Sims, professor and author of Campus Pride’s “2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People” Sue Rankin, bisexual author and speaker Robyn Ochs, musician Randi Driscoll, ESPN writer and columnist LZ Granderson, columnist and “It Gets Better” creator Dan Savage, hate crimes prevention advocate Judy Shepard, comedian Kathy Griffin and others.

For a full list of 2010 HOT LIST! picks and their bios, continue reading after the jump or visit www.campuspride.org/hotlist2010.asp for the full bios and contact information.

Last Thursday, Campus Pride was proud to join with Campus Progress and the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus to present a special Capitol Hill policy briefing on our new report, The 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People.

The report, authored by Campus Pride’s Q Research Institute for Higher Education (Rankin, Blumenfeld, Weber & Frazer), gathers data on the experiences of over 5,000 respondents, uncovering the persistent harassment and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer (LGBQ) students, faculty, and staff on college campuses across the United States, and pointing to the need for more inclusive campus policies, programs and practices. At the briefing, a panel of academics, national leaders and students will discuss the findings of the report and offer national policy solutions to address these critical findings.

Some photos, news round-up and transcript of the event after the jump...

Tuesday, September 21, 2010
National Webinar
Time: Noon & 3 PM EST Zone
Register online at www.campuspride.org/webinarseries.asp

Thursday, September 23, 2010
Capitol Hill Briefing
Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Place: Capitol Visitor Center, Room 215
United States Capitol
E Capitol NE & 1st St NW
Washington, DC 20001
Open to General Public

Washington, DC – This Tuesday, Campus Pride presents a special, live webinar to discuss it’s groundbreaking new report, "The 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People," to be released publicly this week at a U.S. Congressional briefing on Capitol Hill.  Then on Thursday, Campus Pride joins Campus Progress and the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus in a briefing to share the outcomes of the new report and discuss the policy recommendations contained therein.

The report, authored by Campus Pride’s Q Research Institute for Higher Education (Rankin, Blumenfeld, Weber & Frazer), gathers data on the experiences of over 5,000 respondents, uncovering the persistent harassment and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students, faculty, and staff on college campuses across the United States, and pointing to the need for more inclusive campus policies, programs and practices. At the briefing, a panel of academics, national leaders, and students will discuss the findings of the report and offer national policy solutions to address these critical findings.

Read the executive summary online at CampusPride.org.

Some key report findings:

• One quarter (23%) of LGBQ staff, faculty, and students reported experiencing harassment (defined as any conduct that has interfered with your ability to work or learn). Almost all identified sexual identity as the basis of the harassment (83%).  An even greater percentage of transgender students, faculty, & staff reported experiencing harassment (39%) with 87% identifying their gender identity/expression as the basis for the harassment. The form of the harassment experiences by transgender people was more overt and blatant.

• One-third of LGBQ (33%) and transgender (38%) students, faculty, and staff have seriously considered leaving their institution due to the challenging climate.

• More than half of all faculty, students, & staff hide their sexual identity (43%) or gender identity (63%) to avoid intimidation.

• More than a third of all transgender students, faculty, & staff (43%) and 13% of LGBQ respondents feared for their physical safety. This finding was more salient for LGBQ students and for LGBQ and/or Transgender People ofColor.

Capitol Hill Briefing speakers include: Shane L. Windmeyer, Executive Director/Founder, Campus Pride; Angela Peoples, Policy and Advocacy Manager, Campus Progress; Sue Rankin (Lead Researcher), Associate Professor, College Student Affairs and Higher Education, Pennsylvania State University; and Dr. John H. Oberg, Policy Advisor to the Undersecretary of Education, Department of Education

Members of the press must RSVP to attend this event. To RSVP, please contact Katie Andriulli at kandriulli@americanprogress.org or 202-481-8238.

To receive information on the report or speak to experts, please contact Campus Pride at info@campuspride.org or (704) 277-6710.

###

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. Campus Pride coalition partners include: ACPA-College Student Educators International, Campuspeak, Campus Progress, Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals, Gamma Mu Foundation, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Human Rights Campaign, Matthew Shepard Foundation, NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, National Gay& Lesbian Task Force, National Youth Advocacy Coalition and Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold, LLP. Learn more at Campuspride.org.