Federation pledges to triple funding/support to GSAs.

Kentucky Equality Federation pledged yesterday to step-up its funding and support to Gay-Straight Alliances located in high schools, colleges, and universities throughout the commonwealth.

"Education and exposure to diversity in non-threatening environments promotes tolerance; it is critical this occur during high-school and college when individual minds are significantly more open to social diversity," stated Jordan Palmer, Kentucky Equality Federation President.

The decision was also based on a recent UCLA study. Researchers found that today's freshmen are more vocal about their political ideologies than in previous years, with 33.8% saying they've recently discussed politics, up from 25.5% in 2004, when the question was last asked.

The percentage of students identifying themselves as "liberal," 28.4%, is at its highest level since 1975, and those identifying as "conservative," 23.9%, at its highest level in the survey's 40-year history.

Based on a paper questionnaire given to 271,441 first-time, full-time college students at 393 schools nationwide in 2006, the annual survey was conducted as part of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program under UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute. The researchers statistically adjusted the data to reflect the demographics of the 1.3 million incoming freshmen entering four-year schools throughout the U.S. in 2006.

Kentucky Equality Federation already provides materials, support, and financial contributions to some of Kentucky's largest Gay-Straight Alliances. Federation management however has pledged to triple its financial and material support to the alliances it is already supporting, as well as the ones it is currently not.

"These students represent Kentucky's future, and we intend to have a Gay-Straight Alliance in every high school, college, and university in Kentucky by the end of 2008," stated Palmer. "Gay-Straight Alliances provide a safe and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and their straight allies, in addition to educating and exposing students, faculty, and staff to diversity in non-threatening environments; often however these alliances are restrained by lack of funding, and we intend to change that."

Kentucky Equality Federation was instrumental in getting the Boone County High School Gay-Straight Alliance approved in 2006 after threatening to sue the school. Kentucky Equality Federation currently works closely with, and provides support to Eastern Kentucky University’s Pride Alliance and Northern Kentucky University’s Common Ground.