Federation wins Social Justice Impact Award, $10,000.00 and promotional support from MySpace.

Kentucky Equality Federation, a finalist for a MySpace Impact Award in the category of Social Justice has won. The Federation will be awarded a $10,000.00 cash prize from MySpace.

Liba Wenig Rubenstein, MySpace Public Affairs Coordinator stated: “For your important work to preserve and defend the rights of LGBT Kentuckians and promote equality for all, and for your dynamic and effective use of the MySpace platform to engage users in your cause, MySpace is pleased to announce that you have been voted the winner of a MySpace Impact Award, in the category of Social Justice.”

MySpace launched its own MySpace Impact Awards to honor organizations and individuals "making a difference in the world" via MySpace. The Impact Awards are broken into six categories: Community Building, Health and Safety, Social Justice, Poverty Relief, Environmentalism, and International Development. In addition to a $10,000.00 cash prize, winners also get promotional support from MySpace.

"Thousands upon thousands of our members are using MySpace as a platform to make a positive impact," said Chris DeWolfe, MySpace CEO and co-founder. "The Impact Awards are our way of thanking them and honoring them for leveraging the power of MySpace to do good.”

Nancy Couch, Treasurer and Secretary for Kentucky Equality Federation stated the organization was honored to have even been nominated as a finalist.

In a statement released to MySpace after winning the Social Justice Award, Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer stated: “Kentucky Equality Federation largely focuses on the Gay Civil Rights Movement because to this day they are denied access to social and civil rights enjoyed by the majority. Specifically targeting and exempting a specific group of people from constitutional freedoms enjoyed by the majority is an attack on the very foundation that makes this nation great: tolerance, social acceptance, and diversity. From the Black Civil Rights Movement to the Women's Liberation Movement every generation seems unjustly burdened by our governments to fight for what our Founding Fathers wanted them to have, liberty and justice for all. Using the MySpace platform to educate the public, communicate with followers, and increase awareness of our organization has made Kentucky Equality Federation successful. We would not have been able to reach the massive number of people and organizations we have without MySpace.”

Kentucky Equality Federation solutes MySpace for creating a social networking website where people and organizations can network, share ideas, and engage in worthy causes.

“There are a lot of really good people and organizations on MySpace,” stated Palmer. “We encourage other organizations to reach out to the individuals and organizations on MySpace; utilizing the worlds largest social networking website is a fast and easy way to rally others to your cause.”

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.