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.