I recently got the experience recently to table for Campus Pride at Youth Pride Day in Washington DC. It was great to hear many great compliments from people saying how nice it was to see you here and how they would have liked to have such resources when they were younger too. Many youth explored the Campus Climate Index and added their names to the newsletter listserv. I gave a brief talk regarding Campus Pride and one of our universities, George Mason University, was there and spoke about how they completed the index and their programs they offer.

Youth Pride helped expose teens to new organizations and opportunities. It also exposed participants to LGBTQ friendly colleges and universities.

Thank you very much to the organizers for having Campus Pride table at your event and for all your hard work and support for LGBTQ youth.

You can find out more about the event at:
http://www.metroweekly.com/feature/?ak=4213
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How do you define pride?

Many people have different ways of defining pride below are two students' definitions of pride:

ROAR WITH PRIDE
VIEW THE CAMPUS PRIDE ROAR E-NEWSLETTER ONLINE
MAY 2009 ISSUE

http://www.campuspride.org/ROAR/ROAR050109.asp

The Lambda 10 Project for LGBT Fraternity & Sorority Issues (http://www.gaygreeks.org), an educational initiative of Campus Pride, got a sneak peek of some upcoming episodes from the hit dramedy GREEK on ABC Family.

Of course, there is a lot of of drama associated with fraternities and sororites in general. The GREEK television series is nothing short of that either. Regardless, Campus Pride is pleased finally to see out gay characters portrayed within fraternity and sorority life. The characters are diverse, honest and real -- the subject matter is age appropriate for teens as they deal with issues of dating, race, sexuality and gender.

Now, as you will soon see from the clips, GREEK plans to get a little steamy this May. Viewers will be left to see if brotherhood between two openly gay men should be strictly platonic? Or if brotherly love will blossom? It should be interesting to see what happens next and how this impacts the entire brotherhood-- stay tuned GREEK on ABC Family, Mondays 8/7c.

Watch the clips online at Campus Pride -- http://www.campuspride.org/abcfamily.asp

Today’s blog is about a person who I think is absolutely wonderful. Her name is Jessica Pettitt. I first met her this past summer at Campus Pride’s Summer Leadership Camp. She was actually the first camp related person that I met. I was excited to meet a fellow Californian. Ironically the next time I saw her was at Creating Change in Denver. We have yet to see each other in the state that we both live in. Anyway, getting back on topic. Let me tell you a little about why Jessica is so amazing. On May 3rd, Jessica did something great for Campus Pride. Specifically for the Summer Leadership Camp. She participated in a half marathon called The Avenue of the Giants, which she completed in 4 hours and 2 minutes. She did this as a fundraiser for the camp. She set up a facebook group as well as contacted people through other methods and was able to raise a lot of money for camp. I know that that money will be used very well at camp. I had such an amazing experience there. It changed my life. I highly recommend you to attend it if you can. My fellow bloggers David and John were also at camp, and I know they enjoyed it as well. That’s why we are all still involved with Campus Pride. I learned so much at camp, it was amazing. I also made great connections and friends. There is so much that happens at camp, I am not really sure how to narrow it down here, but there was entertainment every night, tons of guest speakers and even a trip to Washington DC to see some wonderful leaders of the movement. A huge thank you to Jess for bringing in not only money but also awareness about Campus Pride and the Summer Leadership Camp. She even wore the lovely bright orange Happy Camper t-shirt!

It seems like a whirlwind, but I had a very successful speaking engagement at the University of Washington this Tuesday, May 6. On behalf of the Lambda 10 Project (an educational initiative of Campus Pride), I was asked to speak with the Greek community about LGBT issues.

The day started at 6 a.m. with my flight from Charlotte, NC to Portland, Oregon. Not sure why, but it was a long day of traveling. The campus of UW is two hours away from the Portland (PDX) airport. Well, the day really began at 1:30 p.m. PST when I had lunch with two dozen or so men and women from the UW fraternity and sorority community. The luncheon program was very informal; however, I found the students engaging and sincerely interested in the topic. The group shared a list of a dozen key points and, or educational resources on the topic that they felt were important to their Greek community. We covered many online tools at Lambda10.org and also mentioned our annual OUT & GREEK Leadership Conference (www.lambda10.org/outandgreek) which is the only conference of its kind for LGBT and ally fraternity and sorority leaders.

Later that evening, I spoke to over 750 fraternity and sorority members. The crowd was lively and engaged as was the earlier luncheon. I always ask audience members to text message questoins to my phone while I am talking so I can randomly choose some questions toward the end of the program. I received over 30 which was a good response and the questions ranged from "how to deal with a brother coming out to understanding how one can be religious and accepting gays." None of the questions were out of the ordinary. I think the most telling response was the Panhellenic President who came to me after surprised. She commented that she had never seen this large of an audience that was so "into it" -- basically she expected some behavioral issues (I think) or at least some chatting in the back of the room.

So I know I said I was going to get a little bit more personal last week, but I lied. Meaning, I didn't have enough time what with moving into my new apartment and all to come up with something personal that I want to share with all of you. Instead, I"m going to talk to you about something that I try to inspire in the members of my organization: leadership.

Too often (at least in my organization) members just come to meetings and hang out there, letting other people move the organization forward. I don't like that.

The "marriage" tag has been getting a LOT of use lately!

Today Maine became the fifth state to allow same sex marrage - Governor Baldacci signed the bill about an hour ago.

Reprinted from : King, D., Ekins, R., (2000), Pioneers of Transgendering: The Life and Work of Virginia Prince

A Transgendered Career: Virginia Prince

Prince was born a male on November 23rd 1912 in Los Angeles. She began cross-dressing at about the age of twelve, at first using her mother's clothes. She writes that by the time she was in high school, she "had progressed to the point of being a girl in public and passing as such" (1997b: 348). There is a familiar story of the pleasures and attractions of cross-dressing together with feelings of guilt and wondering what was wrong with her; of pursuing it as far as possible, and of giving up altogether (Prince, 1979: 170). She visited, she says, six different psychiatrists (Prince, 1967: 5).

In 1939 she got her PhD in pharmacology from the University of California, San Francisco. At around the same time, she met the woman to whom she would be married, in 1941, with the again familiar thought that she would no longer need to cross-dress, followed by the realisation that nothing had changed in that respect. The couple had a son, but the marriage "failed because of my transvestism" she says (Prince, 1967: 143). This was probably in the mid-late 1940s (Prince's dates are not always clear and do not always make sense).

We're getting closer to marriage equality here in Maine. Today the House of Reps passed the bill, without referendum, and now it's heading back to the senate, and then on to Governor John Baldacci.

Cross your fingers!

It looks like this might happen, folks. Any bets on how many states we'll have by the end of 2009?

(Baltimore, MD – Monday, May 4, 2009) — This July 21-26, Campus Pride will host its third annual Campus Pride Summer Leadership Camp geared toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally student leaders from colleges and universities across the United States. The five day long leadership camp, is the only national program of its kind, and will take place on the campus of Towson University in Towson, Maryland. Registration is available online at http://www.CampusPride.org.

Campus Pride announced today that Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard, will be among the keynote speakers at camp. Mrs. Shepard will also be honored with the Campus Pride Voice & Action Award for LGBT youth issues during the closing banquet.

“Who better to honor and recognize Judy Shepard than Campus Pride and our LGBT and ally college student leaders,” said Shane Windmeyer, Executive Director of Campus Pride. “The Voice & Action Award recognizes Judy for her love, passion and support she has given so many the last ten years. Judy is a shining example of how national leaders can give ‘voice and action’ to LGBT young adults – to educate and inspire.”

For over six months, Campus Pride staff and volunteers have been planning the five day curriculum of skill building in leadership development, social justice and civic involvement. Maximum attendance capacity is expected again this year. Any college student 18 years old or above may attend camp. Limited number of scholarships are available until June 1, 2009

If interested in attending the camp or being a sponsor, more information is available online at Campus Pride (www.campuspride.org) or email [email protected].