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Press Release, May 16, 2005

For Immediate Release — May 16, 2005

National Gay and Lesbian Scholarship Fund Announces 2005 “Point Scholars”

Point Foundation invests $3 million in scholarships and mentoring for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students

CHICAGO, May 16 — The daughter of a lesbian couple who has known the sting of homophobia for as long as she can remember; a young man whose Mormon family withdrew their support when they learned he was gay; and a Vietnamese immigrant who arrived in the U.S. not speaking a word of English and faced physical and verbal harassment as the first openly gay student in his high school, but graduated valedictorian, are among this year’s 20 new Point Scholars. The scholarships awarded this year bring the total number of Point Scholars to 47.

Each year, The Point Foundation awards multi-year scholarships to support academic achievement in higher education among marginalized lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth. Point Scholars have demonstrated leadership, scholastic excellence, and a passion for social change—often in spite of homophobia in their hometowns or families.

“When I came out, my mom said that it would hurt my chances for success in the future,” recalls Point Scholar Burt Dewilde. “Every day I work to ensure that my future—and that of all queer youth—will be successful, regardless of sexual orientation.”

The Point Foundation acts as a lifeline to LGBT students like Burt, providing substantial grants that cover the cost of tuition, books, supplies, room and board, transportation and living expenses. This year, the foundation will invest nearly $35,000 in each of its scholars.

In addition, the foundation matches each Scholar with a mentor from the professional world who serves as a positive role model and provides personal support, ensuring that students build a foundation of leadership skills they can use throughout their lives. Mentors are also often a refuge for scholars who do not have a home to go to during the holidays or parents to help them settle into the dorm at the start of the school year.

Since its inception in 2001, The Point Foundation has invested nearly $3 million in scholarships and mentoring programs; however, much remains to be done to give marginalized youth who have lost the financial and emotional support of their families a fair shot at attending college.

“We are struggling to fill a tremendous unmet need,” explains Vance Lancaster, Executive Director of the foundation. “This year, we had the resources to support fewer than one in 100 of the students that applied. We are constantly striving to build our endowment and develop partnerships so that we can make a difference in the lives of even more of these students.”

To that end, The Point Foundation has formed innovative partnerships to provide several new scholarships during the past year, including:

:: The MTV network’s college-based arm, mtvU

:: Georgetown University’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Alumni Group

:: The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association

:: Abercrombie & Fitch

:: Limited Brands Foundation

:: An Uncommon Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to enhancing the visibility, strength and vitality of the lesbian community

:: Merle Aronson and Wanda Alston memorial scholarships

“We are excited to be working with The Point Foundation to cultivate the future leaders of the LGBT community,” says Joel Ginsberg, Interim Executive Director of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA), which has co-sponsored one of the new scholarships. “By providing financial and professional support, the GLMA Point Scholarship is helping to develop a new generation of compassionate, capable physicians and effective advocates for the health and healthcare needs of LGBT people.”

The Point Foundation is also thrilled to announce the Michael Cunningham Point Scholarship in honor of the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Hours, A Home at the End of the World, and the forthcoming Specimen Days.

“I can't imagine a greater honor than a Point Scholarship in my name,” said Cunningham. “Nothing matters more than education and I, for one, feel better about the future thanks to the heroic work of The Point Foundation and its young scholars.”

The 2005 Point Scholars are:

Tanene Allison – Tanene fled from an abusive household in a small, conservative town north-east of Los Angeles and lived on the streets in San Francisco when she had no place to go and no resources. Tanene now attends the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Aaron Arnold – Aaron was born in the small central Pennsylvania town of Lebanon, where he often had to seek refuge in the homes of his friends when things became too difficult at home. Despite these obstacles, or perhaps because of them, Aaron established a Gay Straight Alliance at his high school. Aaron will begin college at the University of Pittsburgh this fall.

Michelle Carnes – Michelle grew up in Indianapolis, IN, and worked two jobs at Purdue University so she could become the second woman in her family to earn her B.A. Michelle is a documentary filmmaker currently pursuing her Ph.D. at American University.

Yve Cohen – Yve was raised in San Diego, CA, where she began her career as an LGBT rights activist. Yve attends the University of California, Berkeley, and is one of two recipients of the mtvU Point Scholarship.

Burt DeWilde – Burt is from Rockford, MI, and currently attends Kalamazoo College. After just one week in college, Burt proudly came out as gay and joined the school’s LGBT student organization. He has been elected leader of the group for the upcoming school year.

Mónica Escobar – Mónica was raised by conservative parents in Fairfax, VA, and graduated at the top of the class at her Catholic high school. She currently studies at Georgetown University and is the first recipient of a Point Scholarship sponsored by Georgetown’s GLBT Alumni Group.

John Harrison – John grew up in Charlotte, NC. He was forced to leave Duke University after his father discovered he was gay and withdrew tuition support. Instead of giving up, John became a fierce advocate for LGBT youth, co-founded the North Carolina Lambda Youth Network and served as a lobbyist for the North Carolina HIV/AIDS Alliance. John will attend the Academy of Art University in San Francisco this fall.

Lindsay Higgins – When Lindsay came out in her junior year of high school, her parents sent her to over a dozen physicians and psychologists, against her will, in search of a cure for her lesbianism. For the next two years, Lindsay lived under total house arrest and was denied access to a telephone, the Internet and television. She left home on her 18th birthday and worked to put herself through college. Lindsay will enroll at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical College with the help of a new Point scholarship supported by the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association.

Lam Ho – Lam immigrated to Brockton, MA, from Vietnam not speaking a word of English. He was valedictorian of his high school, despite having suffered physical and verbal harassment as its first openly queer student. Lam completed an A.B. & M.A. in English in four years at Brown University, and will enroll at Harvard University Law School in the fall.

Matt Howard – Matt was born into a prominent Mormon family (his grandfather is a member of the first Quorum of 70) in Bountiful, UT, just outside Salt Lake City. When Matt was 15, his family withdrew all financial and emotional support. He left Utah and worked his way through college at Emory University in Atlanta; this fall, Matt will attend the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.

Brett Janecek – Brett was raised in a conservative Catholic household in Billings, MT. He is currently studying at the University of Notre Dame near South Bend, IN—the nation’s most conservative university—in hopes that he can add diversity and incite change from within.

Amanda Jessen – Amanda is from Los Alamitos, CA, in Orange County. After coming out to her mother, she was removed from the only home she had known, moving from her mother’s to her grandmother’s and finally to her father’s, during her senior year of high school. Amanda will attend the University of California, Los Angeles in the fall.

Chris Kawasaki – Chris grew up in a conservative, evangelical Christian family in Virginia. He lost the support of his family at age 15 when he made the mistake of telling a friend that he thought he might be gay. Nevertheless, he completed high school with honors, then graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania while working two jobs to support himself. He is currently pursuing a Masters of Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Sol Kelley-Jones – Sol was raised in Madison, WI. As the daughter of lesbian parents, she has known the sting of hate mail, attacks on her home and person, and other forms of homophobia for as long as she can remember—a pain that she fights through activism and public education. Sol will enroll in Hampshire College in Amherst, MA this fall.

Shawn Luby – Shawn grew up in the small town of Olathe, KS, near Kansas City. When he lost the support of his family, he moved to North Carolina on his own. A commitment to fight for accessible health care for the transgender community has inspired him to become a medical researcher at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Maya Marcel-Keyes – Maya was raised in a conservative family and attended an Opus Dei Catholic school. Her father, who publicly made homophobic comments during his 2004 campaign for U.S. Senate, cut off his financial support for her college tuition when she came out. With the help of The Point Foundation, Maya will attend Brown University this fall.

Andrew Moe – Andrew is from Janesville, WI, and currently attends Arizona State University. As one of ASU’s student body presidents and a member of the Barrett Honors College, Andrew is changing the face of ASU’s conservative student body by serving as a role model for other gay youth. Andrew is an mtvU Point Scholar.

Francisco Parra-Camacho – Francisco was born in Mexico and immigrated with his family to Los Angeles at an early age. In his home and his community, he was taunted as a “joto” or “fag.” With intense determination he beat the odds in South Central Los Angeles, where less than one percent of students expect to enter college, and will attend Columbia Law School in the fall.

Bryan Olsen – Bryan grew up in a Mormon family in Orem, UT. After coming out at age 16, he was subjected to rigorous counseling and sent to a behavioral modification boarding school in Mexico by his parents. Without any support from his family, Bryan is currently attending Emory University.

Lyndsey Vierra – Lyndsey grew up in Washington, DC. As a youth activist, she organized on issues such as promoting safe schools, funding for HIV/AIDS, and sexual education curriculum. She currently attends American University.

About The Point Foundation

The Point Foundation is the first and only nationwide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) scholarship organization that focuses exclusively on granting assistance to undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students of distinction. Point Scholars are chosen for their demonstrated leadership, scholastic achievement, extracurricular activities, involvement in the LGBT community and financial or emotional need. For more information, visit www.ThePointFoundation.org.

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