CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Campus Pride, the leading national nonprofit for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and ally college students, has joined with the Outsports.com today in calling for immediate action to end the Chick-fil-A Bowl and Kickoff Games as well as involvement by NCAA, ACC, SEC and ESPN and the participating colleges - University of Alabama, University of Arkansas, Auburn University, Boston College, Clemson University, Duke University, University of Florida, Florida State, University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, University of Kentucky, Louisiana State, University of Maryland, University of Miami, Mississippi State, University of Missouri, University of North Carolina, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh University, University of South Carolina, Syracuse University, University of Tennessee, Texas A&M University, Vanderbilt University, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest University.

Campus Pride supports these specific actions:

• Atlanta Chamber of Commerce should remove the Chick-fil-A name from the Bowl and the Kickoff Games.
• Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) should end their relationship with the Bowl game.
• Participating schools involved with the Bowl game should withdraw from this year’s Kickoff Games.
• ESPN should not broadcast the Chick-fil-A Bowl and Kickoff Games.
• National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) should stop all monetary support of the Chick-fil-A Bowl.
• Bowl Championship Series (BCS) commissioners and presidents should not even accept a bid from the Chick-fil-A Bowl to host the impending college football playoff games starting in 2014.

Campus Pride issued this statement today:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Campus Pride, the leading national nonprofit for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and ally college students, condemns Chick-Fil-A for their funding of documented hate groups and asks that colleges and universities across the country disassociate with Chick-Fil-A immediately, as follows:

• Pass a student government policy/resolution that expresses opposition to Chick-Fil-A on the basis of their direct funding of documented hate groups and prevents further association with the brand Chick-Fil-A.

• End food service contracts that include Chick-Fil-A, amend these contracts, or refuse negotiations with companies like the Aramark Corporation, Sodexo and Compass Group, which all include Chick-Fil-A among dining choices.

• Pull out of conferences, events and sports games where Chick-Fil-A is a sponsor.

“If colleges wish to create an atmosphere that is respectful, inclusive, diverse and fosters safety for all students, then associating with Chick-Fil-A, which is on record funding documented hate groups, is downright wrong and has to end immediately,” said Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride. “Saying ‘no’ to Chick-Fil-A is saying 'no' to hate.”

Over the past decade, college student leaders have long protested Chick-Fil-A due to its discriminatory stances and have asked for its removal from retail dining options offered on campus. New York University, University of Southern Mississippi, Indiana University, Duke University and University of North Carolina Wilmington are among such institutions and reflect the wide spread efforts to kick Chick-Fil-A off campus for not adhering to campus policies of nondiscrimination.

Campus Pride Voice & Action National Award recipient Jacob Tobia, a sophomore at Duke University in Durham, N.C., is a busy man. On top of his academic responsibilities, he serves as director of LGBTQ policy affairs for the Duke Student Government and has been a chief organizer of the campus' efforts to rally students against Amendment One, the anti-LGBT constitutional amendment proposed in North Carolina.

Yesterday, Tobia's activism and awareness efforts paid off as the Duke University Student Senate unanimously approved a resolution opposing Amendment One.

From Duke's student paper, The Chronicle:

The resolution­—submitted by senior Daren Miller, a senator for student life; sophomore Jacob Tobia, director of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer policy and affairs, and President Pete Schork, a senior who was absent at the meeting—affirmed DSG’s support for the LGBT community and served to represent the student body’s opposition to the amendment. The North Carolina primary election and referendum is May 8, and early voting is from April 19 to May 5.

“I am immensely proud of Duke Student Government for taking a stand for families of countless North Carolinians and for the rights of LGBT people across the state,” Tobia said in an interview. “It speaks volumes about our institution and our student body... but this is just the beginning of a long campaign to mobilize voters against the amendment.”

Be sure to click over to The Chronice and read the rest of the write-up on Tobia's resolution...

Campus Pride praises the University of California Academic Senate annd Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools for their recommendation to allow incoming students to identify their sexual orientation and gender identity. (Read more via University of California's The Daily Bruin and CBS Los Angeles.)

The questions, which are planned to be optional, will allow university administrators and staff to more adequately prepare for and serve the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students on their campus.

"Colleges and universities are responsible for the education and safety of their LGBT students -- a school cannot provide necessary services or maintain proper safety and campus climate without first knowing who are the out LGBT students attending their school," said Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride. "Demographic questions asking students about their sexual orientation and gender identity will give university administrators the data they need to properly implement LGBT-inclusive policies and practices. Institutions should be held responsible for student safety, retention and academic success of every student -- the addition of identity questions finally make this possible for LGBT students."

Illinois' Elmhurst College is the only college or university in the U.S. to add similar questions to their undergraduate admissions application. The question was first asked last year in Fall 2011. Five percent of applicants voluntarily identified themselves as LGBT in the first semester of applications.

The LGBT demographic questions will appear on the University of California's Statement of Intent to Register (SIR) forms. The question was also recently approved to appear on forms within California's Cal State and community college systems. A dozen other colleges have inquired with Campus Pride about the addition of such a question and a number colleges in addition to the University of California system have also been reported as considering the question such as Duke University, Yale School of Law and Harvard University.

Campus Pride encourages University of California Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs Lawrence H. Pitts to provide final approval for the addition of the question for the safety, responsibility and academic success of every student.

California, New York and North Carolina students are leading the way for positive, LGBT-inclusive change on their campuses and in their communities

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Students and young leaders across the country are making change, speaking out and taking the reins of leadership on their campuses and in their communities. Marco Flores, Tovah Leibowitz and Jacob Tobia, the three young adult leaders chosen as this year’s recipients of the Campus Pride Voice & Action National Leadership Award, are no exception.

In partnership with OUTmedia, the Campus Pride Voice and Action National Leadership Award is an honorary recognition highlighting the outstanding accomplishments of young adult leaders at colleges and universities across the United States. The award, the only of its kind, is bestowed upon undergraduate students who use their “voice” to speak up and take “action” to create change for LGBT and ally issues within their campuses, local communities and region of the country. The award also acknowledges the vital role nationally that young adult leaders play in the present and for the future of our movement for LGBT fairness and equality.

“The talent and commitment to the movement shown by all the applicants is the reason Campus Pride developed this national honor,” said Voice & Action Award Committee Chair Christopher Bylone. “These three students have gone above the call of duty expected of any student leader in our movement.”

Campus Pride congratulates this year’s recipients:

Marco Flores, University of California, Berkeley (‘12), is a gender and women’s studies and LGBT studies major, an undergraduate student organizer for Queer People of Color (QPoC) and a student representative for the Immigrant Students Issues Coalition.

Tovah Leibowitz, New York University (‘12), is double-majoring in gender and sexuality studies and documentary filmmaking. Tovah serves as the president of the NYU Queer Union.

Jacob Tobia, Duke University (‘14), is studying human rights advocacy and leadership. Jacob serves as director of LGBTQ policy and affairs in the Duke University Student Government.

Flores will be honored at the upcoming Western Regional LGBTQUI Conference at University of the Pacific, in Stockton, Calif., Feb. 24-26. Leibowitz and Tobia will receive their awards at the Northeast LGBT Conference at Sage Colleges in Albany, N.Y., March 30-April 1. Each of the students also receives a free artist, speaker or entertainer of their choice, courtesy OUTmedia, to appear on their college campuses in 2012.

Twenty-five applications were submitted for this year’s award review process. Twelve applicants were chosen by a panel of peers and student volunteers with Campus Pride and honored in early January as Campus Pride’s “Top 12 Leaders in Action.” Flores, Leibowtiz and Tobia were chosen from this pool of 12 outstanding LGBT student leaders.

This year’s awards committee was comprised of Chris Bylone, Campus Pride volunteer and Voice & Action Award Committee chair; Kyle Byrer of the Northeast LGBT Conference and Sage Colleges; Vincent Garcia of The Point Foundation; Anthony Villegas of the Western Regional LGBTQUI Conference and University of the Pacific; and Shelly Weiss of OUTmedia.

Visit www.CampusPride.org/voiceandaction.asp to learn more about the national awards program or email [email protected].

[Media: Interviews with award winners are available upon request. Please direct any inquiries to Christopher Bylone at 704-277-6710, ext. 5 and [email protected] or to Matt Comer at 704-277-6710, ext. 6 and [email protected].]

Jacob Tobia
Duke University
Class of 2014
Program of Study: Human Rights Advocacy and Leadership
Intended profession: International Human Rights Researcher/Advocate

"I'm ecstatic to be presented with the National Voice and Action Leadership Award. It is such an honor to be included in a long legacy of passionate LGBTQ activists who are committed to making change on their campuses. Undoubtedly, the award and the opportunity to work with OUTmedia that the award represents will help me to be a more effective activist on my campus. I'm planning on bringing an OUTmedia performer to Duke for a get-out-the-vote rally against an amendment that will define marriage as between one man and one woman in the constitution of my home state of North Carolina. Thank you Campus Pride!" ~ Jacob Tobia

Active in LGBT grassroots activism and education efforts since high school, Jacob currently serves as the director of LGBTQ policy and affairs in the Duke University Student Government. He also serves as president of Duke Students for Gender-Neutrality, is a member of the Duke LGBT Task Force and serves as outreach chair for Blue Devils United, the undergraduate LGBT student group.

Jacob has also been active organizing his campus against the impending May 8, 2012, vote on an anti-LGBT constitutional amendment that would ban recognition of marriages, civil unions, domestic partnerships and other benefits for same-sex couples and unmarried opposite-sex couples.

In 2011 the staff of Campus Pride decided that another level of recognition was to be added to the National Voice & Action Leadership Award. The staff felt that there were too many amazing student leaders creating positive change on their respective campuses to only give recognition to the final recipients of the ward. This was the main reason the Top 12 Leaders in Action recognition was created. This year was another example of just that! All of the committee members agree that the applicants who applied and the work they have done is the very reason Campus Pride developed this national honor. These students are on the front lines of the movement creating positive change every day. We should be proud and thankful of all the work they do.

Just before the New Year, Campus Pride finished its review and selected the Top 12 Leaders in Action. These 12 students will also be forwarded on to the final review process. This final review process will result in the selection of the National Voice & Action Award Recipient(s).

Now please let us introduce you to the Top 12 Leaders in Action (listed in alphabetical order by first name); Ande Stone – University of Georgia, Anthony Wagner – University of Michigan-Dearborn, Derrick Clifton – Northwestern University, Eric Highers – Albion College, Giovanni Correale – Florida International University, Jacob Tobia – Duke University, Julie Champion – Georgia Tech, Kevin Claybren – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ky Kubitz – University of Oregon, Marco Flores – University of California-Berkeley, Matthew Troy – Greensboro College, Tovah Leibowitz – New York University.

Learn more about these Top 12 Leaders after the jump!