“I always took issue with the idea that coming out is in and of itself an act of heroism,” said Harvard College freshman Brandon Perkovich.
“It’s hard to explain, but it gets to the point where it’s something that you need to do. The idea that sexuality can get in the way of an education is so blatantly obvious that you may not be able to achieve the same level of success.”
As members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community often face prejudice from the public arena, one advocacy group maintains the least it can do is help students into college.
The Point Foundation, a GLBT-rights advocacy organization and scholarship fund, held its annual fundraiser for the first time in Boston last night at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel.
“It’s a great organization because it brings together the best of two things that I believe in — education and then GLBT rights,” said Richard Caswell, host of Point. “And a lot of times it’s for students who are disenfranchised. How can they afford to go to school? And it’s also to produce future leaders.”
Based in Los Angeles, the organization aims to support scholarship among the GLBT community without allowing sexual orientation or gender identity interfere with educational pursuits. Founded in 2001, Point is the only fund to cater to GLBT students.
After a stringent selection process, prize recipients receive financial support as well as a mentor who they are matched with according to their areas of academic interest. They are also required to give back to the GLBT community with an annual service project.
Joanne Herman, a member of the organization’s board of trustees, said the foundation handed out 40 scholarships to roughly 900 applicants and hopes to assist more GLBT citizens overcome common obstacles.
“Fist of all there’s this stigma about being gay, lesbian or transgender,” Herman said. “There’s also this guilt trip that gets laid on kids that, ‘You’re not going to be able to get a job. People are not going to hire you.’ That’s why the interview process is so impressive, because you sit in this room with all these people that did get jobs.”
Bruce Lindstrom said his troubling childhood in a conservative household inspired him to co-found the Point Foundation.
“A child never has to be taught abandonment and rejection,” Lindstrom said. “I learned that the time I came out to my family. We’re a very religious, conservative evangelical family, and they decided that what was best was to turn their back on evil.
“For 15 years no one spoke to me,” he continued. “No Christmas cards, no telephone calls, no visits for 15 years to demonstrate that they were turning their back on me, and it’s that kind of experience that became the spring of the Point Foundation.”
Stanley Vance, a junior in Harvard Medical School, said though he was once reluctant to accept his homosexuality, he now embraces his life and is grateful for the mentorship of the Point Foundation.
“My identity at one point was a source of shame,” Vance said. “Now my identity is a source of pride.
“Growing up as a gay person, I didn’t feel like I had someone that I could say, ‘OK, that’s going to be me in the future,'” he continued. “So just being at the interview process, and seeing these people in such high level positions, gave me hope that maybe one day I could do that and that my sexuality wouldn’t limit me in that capacity.”
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