eQuality Scholarship This scholarship honors high school seniors who have demonstrated service to the LGBTQ community.  It is expected that one student will be awarded a scholarship for $12,000, and 10 or more students will receive $6,000 to put towards college expenses. For further details on application requirements, selection critieria, and to apply visit equalityscholarship.org Application Deadline: Monday, February 9th, 2015 Point Foundation This is the nation's largest scholarship-granting organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, … [Read more...]

“In 9th grade, I knew that we needed a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club at Mastery Charter, Thomas Campus in Philadelphia, PA. What I didn’t know was how our club—which started as a place for LGBTQ youth to socialize, share information, and support each other—would quickly evolve into a prominent group that would organize and advocate for educational justice on campus and student rights for all youth nationally.” Read more in “The Activist” newsletter from The GSA Network … [Read more...]

“Quite simply, to prevent and reduce HIV/AIDS, we must think beyond "it gets better" for teen and young adult MSM toward how it could be better now. We need a policy agenda that prioritizes fostering respect and support -- with special attention in early adolescence.” Read more in The Huffington Post … [Read more...]

“They are student representatives on the state council overseeing the implementation of the law, which gives schools across the state new tools to combat student harassment...It is somewhat unusual for students to serve as voting members on state councils that shape education policy, but supporters of Minnesota’s new bullying law thought it was important that young people be included on the 23-person group…” Read more in The Star Tribune … [Read more...]

“A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to become the first trans homecoming king in Texas. It was an incredible victory, but it wouldn’t have been possible without an earlier victory: I petitioned to start a GSA at my school and our club was approved.” Read the full article at GSA Network … [Read more...]

“Advocates say many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students have similar experiences in schools. In addition to bullying, they are disciplined at higher rates than their peers, they say. But without consistent, reliable national data about LGBT students, researchers have struggled to prove the extent of the problem or to track the effectiveness of educators' efforts to address it.” … [Read more...]

“My entire experience with high school has felt like one person after another, from classmates to school officials, telling me I’m not wanted and I’m not worthy of an education. And I am not the only LGBTQ student of color being told that. This week, GSA Network and Crossroads Collaborative released a study that backs up what I’ve been seeing: gender nonconforming youth and LGBTQ youth of color like me are being blamed for our own victimization, targeted for harassment and punishment, treated like criminals, and ultimately pushed out of … [Read more...]

"It used to be that anyone who was gender neutral or transgender was kind of left in this limbo … and they couldn't identify,” Preskenis said. “So now it’s open to everyone. Our ultimate goal is more inclusion, but it’s also to change the discussion from being about gender to also being about making a positive impact on Ashland High School.” Read more in The Mail Tribune … [Read more...]