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!

Campus Pride is spreading the "queer" message.

Today I am at the National College Media Adviser Conference hosted in New York City. There are thousands of college journalists from newspapers across the United States. I used to write for my college newspaper and yearbook, so this brings back memories -- lots of coffee and straight news (LOL). I can't believe that I even met five students from my alma mater Emporia State University. I think they were as shocked as I was.

Today is "table talking" -- basically sitting at the official Campus Pride headquarters, passing out literature and answering questions. Our table is right next to the Associated Press -- good positioning! Tommorrow, I present my session titled "Report It: Your Campus Gay-Friendly?" Wish me luck!

This is the first year Campus Pride has attended CMA! We are excited to be here and a real big special thanks to Robin Spielberger for all her support!

I love NYC!

CHARLOTTE, NC FEBRUARY, 16, 2009 – Campus Pride (www.campuspride.org) announced the recipients of its Voice & Action National Leadership Awards this weekend at the Midwest LGBT and Ally College Conference,the nations largest college conference for LGBT and ally student leaders, hosted at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN.

Three students Justin Hager from University of Wisconsin-Madison, Celso Perez from Boston College and Shawna Scott from University of Georgia were chosen this year for the prestigious honor. The honorary recognition highlights the extraordinary contributions of lesbian, gay,bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally young adult leaders at colleges and universities across the United States.

"Campus Pride is proud to recognize these young adults and the work that is being done at colleges and universities throughout the country. Seldom do we recognize young people who are indeed changing hearts and minds and leading the way today for the future of equality. The Voice & Action Award finally gives visible national recognition where it has long been overdue," said Shane Windmeyer, Executive Director of Campus Pride.