Individuals, Celebrities, Media Figures and Corporations Joining Forces
to Support LGBT Youth

Last fall, the nation mourned after the suicide deaths of more than a dozen young people who were LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) or perceived to be LGBT. These tragic losses and the reports that these youth were bullied because of their sexual orientation or gender identity sparked a nationwide conversation about bullying, especially with regard to LGBT young people. Their stories also inspired a movement toward encouragement, which included Spirit Day (10/20) and the "It Gets Better" Project.

Unfortunately, many LGBT young people continue to face bullying and harassment:

• A 14-year-old boy from Williamsville, NY, named Jamey Rodemeyer died by suicide last month. He endured near-constant anti-gay bullying at school and online.
• In early October, a teenager at Sequoyah High School in Madisonville, Tenn.,says he was physically assaulted by his own principal for wearing a shirt that supported the formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance at the school.
• Last Friday, the LGBT teen son of a City Councilor in Ottawa, Ontario, died by suicide.
• Just this weekend, vandals spray-painted the words "F*GS BURN" and "DIE" on the entrance to the LGBT center at North Carolina State University.

These stories are why this year’s Spirit Day is just as important as last year’s.

Organization to Kickoff National BORN THIS GAY Contest with $10,000 in Free speakers, LGBT Event Registrations and other Prizes to commemorate the 10 Year Anniversary all year long

Campus Pride, the leading national nonprofit working to build future lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) leaders and develop safer, more LGBT-friendly colleges and universities, celebrates its 10thanniversary this month. The group is highlighting its decade-long record of achievements and accomplishments and giving back, kicking off their national BORN THIS GAY Campus Tour and a contest including more than$10,000 in prizes.

For 10 years, Campus Pride’s primary objective has been to develop necessary resources, programs and services to support LGBT and ally students on college campuses across the United States. Founded in the Fall of 2001 and launched a year later in October 2002, Campus Pride started as an online community and resource clearinghouse under the name Campus PrideNet. The original founding partners were M. Chad Wilson, Sarah E. Holmes & Shane L. Windmeyer. In 2006, the organization broadened its outreach efforts and restructured as the current educational non-profit organization Campus Pride. As part of the restructuring process, the Lambda 10 Project for LGBT Fraternity & Sorority Issues (www.lambda10.org (http://www.lambda10.org/)) became an educational initiative of Campus Pride.

Former rugby star Ben Cohen is taking his gay rights advocacy a step further with the creation of an antibullying organization called the StandUp Foundation.

Regarding the collaboration with Campus Pride, Cohen said in a statement, "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."

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE FROM THE ADVOCATE: Learn more and WATCH THE VIDEO online at THE ADVOCATE

Bebe, Pandora, Shannel & Shangela put their heels on to educate, enlighten & entertain on college campus communities across the country

(Charlotte, NC) -- Campus Pride in partnership with Hope’s Voice announces Divas of Diversity, an exciting new program to embrace differences and celebrate diversity with the unforgettable talent of Logo’s hit show RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 1, 2 and 3 -- Bebe Zahara Benet, Pandora Boxx, Shangela and Shannel. Starting today, Divas of Diversity college bookings will benefit Campus Pride as well as other charities with a donation from each booking.

“Campus Pride is thrilled to support Hope’s Voice to bring the talent of RuPaul’s Drag Race to college campuses with a timely message of acceptance and diversity,” said Shane Windmeyer, Executive Director of Campus Pride. “Acts of bias, harassment and bullying plague college campus communities, especially when it comes to the diversity of gender expression and gender identity. ‘Divas of Diversity’ has the power to entertain, enlighten and educate as only drag queens can – in heels with conviction and pride.”

In September, Campus Pride Blog chronicled the efforts of LGBTQI and straight ally student leaders at the University of Rhode Island in their quest to ensure safer and more welcoming learning, living and working environments on campus.

In response to several anti-LGBTQI incidents on campus and lackisdaisical response by university administrators, several students began a 24-hour sit-in in the student union. The protest lasted for two weeks, until students received many of the requests they'd made of URI administration.

Last week, URI administrators made good on another student request; URI has hired its first-ever associate vice chancellor for community, equity and diversity.

According to The Providence Journal, Kelly Friedman, the former executive director of diversity and equity at the University of Vermont, began work in the associate vice president position last week.

Friedman will report directly to URI President David Dooley and will supervise the Women’s Center; Multicultural Center; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender Center; the Bias Incident Response Team; and the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity.

Read up on the history of URI's LGBTQI student protest...

Dear President McCormick,

I was a Reader's Digest editor for 20 years, and a commissioner of education in Los Angeles Unified School District (1996-99), as well as being a long-time published author.

Rutgers will never (your words) "rise to the highest tier" among American universities unless it does the right thing about Tyler Clementi's suicide.

Your school must act decisively in this case. You must expel both Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei for invasion of privacy of fellow student Tyler Clementi. Their actions were a clear violation of campus code.

If Rutgers does not enforce its own rules, you are sending a message that student lawlessness can rule your campus, whether it relates to LGBT students or other matters. This lethal incident will become a black mark on your school's reputation, and a red alert to parents, who will be well-advised to send their children to schools, where their rights, safety and privacy will be protected by rules that are actually enforced.

Sincerely yours,
Patricia Nell Warren

***************************************

Email we sent to the President at Rutgers:

My husband and I are both alumni of Rutgers University (Law School and Social Work School.) And we have many gay and lesbian family members.

We understand that the Rutgers University Code of Student Conduct prohibits "making or attempting to make an audio or video recording of any person(s) on University premises in bathrooms, showers, bedrooms, or other premises where there is an expectation of privacy with respect to nudity and/or sexual activity, without the knowledge and consent of all participants subject to such recordings."

Dear President McCormick,

My names is Jim Swimm. I'm a 39-year old man living in the Inwood community here in New York, NY, the area where Tyler Clementi's body was found on Sept. 29th. I was the first person to see Tyler's life-less body floating along the banks of the Harlem River. It was a surreal moment, to say the very least, and one that is having a profound effect on my life.

You see, I'm also Gay. I'm not sure if you are aware of the other boys who died that week that Tyler committed suicide, but I grew up in Houston, TX, in the same area as Asher Brown. Asher was a 13-year old boy who couldn't bear the bullying any longer and shot himself with his stepfather's gun. So, as I'm sure you can imagine, the issues of homophobia, anti-LGBT bullying, and teen suicide were all in the forefront of my thoughts that day as I walked through the park and came upon a body in the water. I thought it just a random occurrence, unfortunate, but random.

Once it was confirmed that the body I'd seen was, in fact, Tyler Clementi, I began to doubt that my being there at that particular moment was actually as random as I thought. Of all the people in the city, even this community, to have first seen that sadly misused and violated boy's corpse, is a Gay man who happens to also have a connection to another boy who was"bullied to death" (as Asher's mother put it?) I can't believe there wasn't some fateful occurrence that put me there. Now, I think I'm beginning to see why.

The following is something I posted on Facebook after attending the vigil in Washington Square Park last Sunday. Please read this, as I think it explains how I came to find some higher purpose to all this:

“Now is the time to act decisively and send a clear message at Rutgers and at colleges across the country that LGBT harassment and hate will not be tolerated any longer,” states Campus Pride noting it has now been two weeks since Clementi committed suicide.

(New Brunswick, NJ) Campus Pride, the nation’s leading non-profit organization working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally college and university students, today called for Rutgers University to act decisively to expel both Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei for invasion of privacy of fellow student Tyler Clementi. Two weeks ago on Wednesday, September 22, Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge posting on his Facebook page, "jumping off the gw bridge sorry."

According to Campus Pride, the Rutgers University Code of Student Conduct prohibits "making or attempting to make an audio or video recording of any person(s) on University premises in bathrooms, showers, bedrooms, or other premises where there is an expectation of privacy with respect to nudity and/or sexual activity, without the knowledge and consent of all participants subject to such recordings."

“Ravi and Wei acted maliciously to secretly tape Tyler Clementi, even posting comments to encourage others to ‘video chat’ and watch. This is an egregious act of invasion of privacy. Both students should be expelled. Period,” said Shane Windmeyer, executive director and founder of Campus Pride. “This act was not simply a prank. It has been two weeks now and neither student has been expelled. Now is the time to act decisively and send a clear message at Rutgers and at colleges across the country that LGBT harassment and hate will not be tolerated any longer.”

Campus Pride has been following student protesting and organizing on the issue of LGBT campus safety at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I.

The protest led this week to university administrators meeting one of the many demands made by students.

Today, the student newspaper, The Good 5 Cent Cigar, issued a wonderful staff editorial, writing in part:

There is no reason that any student should need escorted protection on campus. There is no reason why anyone should have obscenities yelled at him while walking to class. There is no reason that any student should be made to feel that any aspect of their background, lifestyle or being is wrong.
Whether one agrees with the monetary goals of the GLBT protest is irrelevant, because their rightful cause for complaint goes beyond asking for a new building or an increase in staff. These students are asking for a basic level of respect and consideration that is being denied to them every day on this campus.
As a student body, we need to take a closer look at our own attitudes toward one another. That a group of students feels so disrespected that they find it necessary to make a very public protest in order to have their voice heard shows a disturbing lack of openness and consideration among the student body. That some have responded to the GLBT group's complaints with hateful rhetoric and vandalism further goes to show that students aren't listening.

Read the rest of the editorial board's sentiments, and check out Campus Pride's past coverage of the URI student protests.

On Monday, student protesters at the University of Rhode Island sent this update:

September 27, 2010 – The University administration has agreed to reinstate the two faculty members that had been unjustly reorganized out of their previous meeting positions. Despite this victory, the President still refuses to make room for the students to meet with him and address the other issues. The next workable meeting is not until Thursday morning. The students are still going to stay in the 24-hour room until all of their demands are completely met, regardless of when the administration will find the time to deal with the issues of campus climate and safety.

See Campus Pride's past coverage of the LGBT student protest at URI...