Campus Pride hosted fourth annual LGBT & Ally Summer Leadership Camp, July 20-25, 2010 at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN
National LGBT & ally college nonprofit recognizes Keissling of National Center for Transgender Equality with national leadership award as well as Driscoll, Topping, Barth, Thomison, Burks, D’Allaird, Graving, Brown & Feldman with “Campys” for distinguished volunteer service

(Charlotte, NC) -- Campus Pride hosted its fourth annual Campus Pride Summer Leadership Camp from July 20-25, 2010 on the campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. The camp is the only one of its kind geared toward mobilizing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally student leaders from colleges and universities across the United States.

Nearly sixty college student leaders attended the five day camp from over thirty-five colleges and universities. Featured camp keynotes included Campus Pride founder/executive director Shane Windmeyer as well as Mara Keissling from the National Center for Transgender Equality, Dr. John Corvino of Wayne State University and writer of 365gay.com, out gay athlete Brian Sims who is also on the board chair of EqualityPA, Dr. Marisa Richmond of Tennessee Equality Project, national bisexual advocate and author Robyn Ochs and D’Arcy Meyer of the National Gay & Lesbian Law Association.

Campus Pride also bestowed its National Voice & Action Leadership Award to Mara Keissling of the National Center for Transgender Equality. The award recognizes a national leader in the LGBT and ally movement who believes in the Campus Pride mission to build future leaders and create awareness, safety and visibility for LGBT students on campus.

Read more after the jump...

Fourth Annual Campus Pride Summer Leadership Camp Kicks Off at Vanderbilt University for LGBT and Ally Students this week July 20-25
Nearly 60 LGBT and ally college students from across the country; Campus Pride Organizes Leaders for Grassroots Change at Colleges & Universities

(Nashville, TN) -- Campus Pride kicks off the fourth annual summer leadership camp for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally college students from colleges and universities across the country. The camp begins July 20 to 25, 2010 and will be hosted for the first time on the campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.

Though summer is often a slow time of year for student organizers working for LGBT equality, today nearly sixty LGBT and ally college student leaders from all over the country came together for a week of planning, networking and training. Touted as the “only camp of its kind for LGBT advocacy and social justice,” the five-day camp experience blends traditional camp activities like arts and crafts with a core curriculum of skill building in leadership development, social justice and civic involvement. The camp mission is straightforward: “At the heart of a remarkable leader is a passion and a vision for change.” Camp training and activities underscore the camp mission and engage campers to explore the unique challenges faced as LGBT and ally campus leaders.

Shane Windmeyer, Executive Director of Campus Pride and author of The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students profiling the “100 Best LGBT-Friendly Campuses,” stated “It is our responsibility to build the future leaders who will continue the fight for equality at home, at work, at places of worship, at all levels of community. Those future leaders are on our college campuses today. The camp makes an investment for the future and will play a key role in training the next generation of leaders in the movement for LGBT rights.”

Saturday, February 6, 2010
8:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.

Sheraton Dallas Ball Room
400 North Olive Street
Dallas, TX 75201

The 2010 Creating Change Youth Hospitality Subcommittee Presents Mas-Queer-Ade Ball headlining Vidur Kapur and Kit Yan. OUTmedia honors your activism and brings you: international comedy sensation, Vidur Kapur and internationally renowned trans slam poet Kit Yan. Vidur's credits include MTV LOGO, NBC's Stand Up for Diversity. Vidur has moved South Asians and LGBTQ students from the margins and into the campus core. Kit is a Curve Magazine favorite, OUTmusician of the Year nominee, and a speaker at the National Equality March.

Kit will premiere OUTmedia's "Be Queer Buy Queer!" national video contest. Bring your cameras and be the first to enter!

The event will also feature local queer youth artists, singers, and dancers. This is an alcohol and drug free event for all ages. A dance party for guests under age 24 will follow the performance.

Creating Change is the nation's pre-eminent political leadership and skills-building conference for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) social justice movement.

This event is free and open to the public. RSVP here for the event.

Click here to register for the Creating Change Conference.

Campus Progress held their 4th Annual National Youth Journalism Conference, July 9th in Washington, DC. The event featured such journalists as Ana Marie Cox, founding editor of Wonkette and a national correspondent for Air America, Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher for The Nation, and Christopher Hayes, Washington editor for The Nation, among many others. The conference also offered beat workshops, such as environment, economy, and domestic policy, as well as skill workshops which featured such topics as blogging, interviewing and generating story ideas, and designing online slideshows, to name a few.

I got the chance to speak with different participants from the conference including Ariel Boone, a third year student and out senator at University of California-Berkeley, a 5-star institution on our Campus Climate Index.

Boone came to the conference due to her interest in Campus Progress and desire to meet Ana Marie Cox. I asked her: how do you feel this conference is helping the LGBTQ community?

She replied with, "It is helping. There was a LGBTQ and faith dialogue yesterday*. But, at this conference more issues could have been mentioned, such as Don't Ask, Don't Tell and hate crimes. [There also were] not many discussions about people of color."

Boone said she learned skills that can be taken back to her campus. She learned how to find information regarding university spending practices and discovered that she should place "more focus on what people [are] already doing [to] avoid redundancy."

*- Boone is referring to the Campus Progress National Conference held Wednesday, July 8th.

For more information about Boone's Blog or Campus Progress:
Boone's Blog features pieces on LGBTQ issues, sexism, and social justice.

Campus Progress