I am back in Washington, D.C. this week for the ACPA – College Educators International Annual Convention (ACPA). The convention brings together thousands of student affairs professionals who work at colleges and universities across the country in all types of positions (housing, student activities, dean of students, financial aid, greek life, orientation, etc).

What is so wonderful about this convention is the fact that they are and have been LGBT-affirming for a number of years and have worked hard through the LGBT Standing Committee to challenge the membership to do so. Campus Pride is proud to have partners like ACPA (often referred to ask GayCPA due to the large numbers of LGBT membership/attendance). We have worked with ACPA over the last eight years in various ways and hope to continue building bridges.

Campus Pride this year at the convention was chosen to present a session titled “National Trends: The State of Higher Education for LGBT People.” Sue Rankin (the Campus Pride QRIHE Research Director) and myself are doing the presentation on Tuesday, March 31 in the afternoon. The session will focus on the first year of aggregate data from the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index (http://www.campusclimateindex.org) and will also introduce our new longitudinal Campus Pride College Climate Survey (http://www.campuspride.org/research). We’re very excited to share the national trends and areas for improvement in LGBT services at colleges and universities.

Well, as you know by now, I'm kind of nerd for the medical/scientific stuff, and today's post will be no different. Before you click on the video below, let me explain to you what it is you're seeing. The green cell is a molecular clone of infectious HIV, with a protein encoded into its makeup that glows green under blue light. What's the significance? This is the first time scientists have actually been able to see how it is that HIV transfers itself from cell to cell. Previously it was thought that it was just a free transfer, HIV floating willy-nilly through the bloodstream and attaching on to poor unsuspecting T-Cells. In fact, it seems the main method is that the HIV infected cells create a bridge called a "virological synapse" to basically inject the host cell with the virus. Here's what it looks like:

So what does this mean for HIV/AIDS research? It means that now scientists can look at medications or vaccines that prevent the formation of these synapses in the first place, rendering the virus inert, or possibly this provides a starting point to research what happens once the virus has been introduced to the host cell via the virological synapse.

So, I'm a big fan of digg.com. It's the site I go to when I'm bored on the internet, and basically I let people all over the world do my surfing for me, and just tell me what to look at. It's great... I make my lazy time in itself lazier. But it also kind of gives you a decent gauge on what it is exactly that other people out there in the world are seeing and reading, and every so often something gay pops up. Those are always my favorites. Around the time of Prop 8, Digg was aglow with all kinds of pro-gay high-dig articles and links and editorials. It was amazing... it looked like the new generation was on our side. Even afterward, articles flew about the Mormon church and its tax-exempt status, or what kind of fantastic things the Pope had to say about homosexuals (No joke, he said gays were like the rainforest), but recently the LGBT movement on Digg has slowed, because as with all things on the internet, fads fade. Every so often though, some brave soul finds something digg-worthy, and it makes it to the front page... like a flare gun of civil rights telling people we're still here, we're still queer, and dammit we're not going away.

The Obama Administration will join 66 other countries and sign the UN Gay Rights Document that calls for the decriminalization of homosexuality worldwide. The document was originally introduced in December during the Bush Administration and declares that there shall be an end to human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. When it was introduced the US was the only western country not to endorse it.

Um, can I get a woohoo? I'm not saying Obama is perfect, but he's a far sight better than the last 8 years. Bush was elected for the first time in, what, 2000? I was in the middle of 8th grade. He's the only president I, and most of my friends for that matter, really paid attention to in terms of policy issues. We came of age with a president who many of us felt did not respect us or stand for our rights, values or personal freedoms. So, in this sense? Yeah, Obama rocks.

Knock, knock. Who's there? Ex-Gay. Ex-Gay who?

Hmmm. Well this is not a "Knock, Knock" joke. It's for real and serious.

More and more colleges and universities are having PFOX and other ex-gay groups contact them. The groups want to put "ex-gay propaganda" in the LGBT & ally resource center/office. Campuses without LGBT centers are also being challenged to have this information on campus in other venues like health centers, diversity offices, etc. As pointed out repeatedly, there is no scientific evidence that shows "ex-gay reparative treatments" to work; however, the harms associated are well documented.

At the American Psychological Association’s annual meeting, August 10, 2006, the organization released the following statement: “For over three decades the consensus of the mental health community has been that homosexuality is not an illness and therefore not in need of a cure. The APA’s concern about the positions espoused by NARTH and so-called conversation therapy is that they are not supported by the science. There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish."

Introduction posts always seem so, well, introductory. But, as Julie Andrews says, “let’s beginning at the very beginning. It’s a very good place to start.” And with this being a Q&A blog, I think I’ll do this interrogation style.

Hey, who the heck are you, anyway?

My name is Andrew and I’m finishing up my BA in Human Ecology (it’s really better if you don’t ask, “why?”) at some point in the next year. I attend a tiny liberal arts college on the Downeast Coast of Maine, though I’m originally from Los Angeles and I’ve lived in Alexandria, VA and Boston, MA at various points. I started doing activism the summer after 7th grade and I currently run Spectrum, the LGBTQ group on my campus. I am also on The Trevor Project's Youth Advisory Council, the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition’s Youth Committee and last summer I was an intern at BAGLY, the Boston Alliance of GLBT Youth.

So what makes your activism clock tick?

Hey kids! My name’s John, I’m a 23 year old sophomore at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. I’m originally from Michigan, where I grew up kind of all over the place. My family finally settled down in suburbia when my mom met my now stepdad. Growing up for me was pretty normal on the outside, but on the inside I struggled with a pretty broken home scenario. Basically every horror story you can imagine happened at some point in my family history. It was especially hard for me growing up because I butted heads with my stepdad a lot and he was the “man of the house” and all. So anyway, I made it to 17 still struggling with my sexuality and a lot of other things that I’m sure some of you can relate to, and at that point I graduated high school and shipped off to the military. Perfect place for a budding homo right? So yeah, I did my four years there with my ups and downs, and toward the end of my enlistment, at 21 years old, began the coming out process. I told my active duty friends first, and most of them were incredibly supportive… but there were a few who weren’t. I lost one friend, and another tried to get me kicked out. That was the first hit that I took that showed me how hard it is for LGBT in American life right now.

Call for Participation for national survey released today for LGBT college students, faculty & staff with a chance to win $500 cash and a free RSVP Vacation Cruise

CHARLOTTE, NC, March 2, 2009 – Do you consider your campus to be gay-friendly? Does your campus have work to be done on transgender issues? What does it mean to be a lesbian, gay, bisexual or a transgender (LGBT) student, staff, or faculty member on your campus? LGBT students, faculty, staff, and administrators are encouraged to respond to the Call for Participation for Campus Pride’s National LGBT College Climate Survey announced today. Go online to http://www.campuspride.org/research.

Campus Pride seeks undergraduate and graduate students, staff, faculty, and administrators who identify as LGBT people to participate in the National LGBT College Climate Survey. The survey is housed under the Q Research Institute for Higher Education (QRIHE), the national center for the scholarly study of LGBT people in higher education.

The QRIHE is owned and operated by the national nonprofit organization Campus Pride. The Research Director is Dr. Susan R. Rankin of The Pennsylvania State University and Associate Research Director is Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld of Iowa State University. Institutional Review Board approval has been granted nationally for this study. In accordance, participation is confidential and data specific to individual higher education institutions will not be identified in the final analysis. Once completed, any participant will have the opportunity, if chosen, to register for $500 cash and a free cruise aboard RSVP Vacations.

Repost from Inside Higher Education

A federal appeals court on Tuesday gave a major win to public universities and advocates for gay rights who have wanted to preserve in full the institutional anti-bias policies that bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled -- in a two-sentence decision -- that the Hastings College of Law of the University of California was within its rights to deny recognition to a branch of the Christian Legal Society. Hastings said that the student group's ban on members who engage in "unrepentant homosexual conduct" violated the law school's anti-bias policies. In turn, the Christian Legal Society argued that its First Amendment rights were being violated by the law school in that it was forcing the law students in the society to abandon their religious beliefs in return for recognition.

The appeals court's decision said simply this: "The parties stipulate that Hastings imposes an open membership rule on all student groups — all groups must accept all comers as voting members even if those individuals disagree with the mission of the group. The conditions on recognition are therefore viewpoint neutral and reasonable."

>>View full article http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/03/18/hastings

Well, the cherry blossoms have not bloomed yet. But I am in Washington, D.C. today and for the weekend. I actually came early today to do some pre-Camp planning for our Campus Pride Summer Leadership Camp this July. We are planning some extra special activities for the 60+ college students this year. It is very exciting and if you haven’t already, please check out our Campus Pride Camp at http://www.campuspride.org/camp.asp

I also had the pleasure of scheduling some meetings with our friends at The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. While I was there visiting, I actually got my first tour of the “Queer Compound” (not the official name btw, but catchy nonetheless). This is where the Task Force has a floor of office space and then other national organizations also have offices like our allies at Out for Work, Stonewall Democrats, Black Pride and the National Center for Transgender Equality. All of these organizations under one roof – how queer-rific!

For lunch, I was invited by Becky Dansky, a straight ally who works at The Task Force, to be her guest at the Q Street monthly luncheon. I must say it was a wonderful, really amazing group of movers and shakers in D.C. who happen to be LGBT and ally professionals on Capitol Hill. Big thank you to Becky! And, then, I stopped by to meet with Candace Gingrich and Betsy Pursell who work at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). I have known Candace since she became part of HRC (over a decade now). Betsy is the VP of the Foundation and both her and Candace have been strong advocates for Campus Pride and opening doors for working together more. I enjoyed our meeting and look forward to continuing our partnerships supporting LGBT & ally college students. HRC is one of our stops for lunch at Camp this summer – Thank you HRC!