Jonathan Jaxson and Jonathan Perry to Speak at Youth Pride Day 2003

WASHINGTON, DC (April 2, 2003) – The Youth Pride Alliance is very pleased to announce our two keynote speakers for this year’s Youth Pride Day celebration: 19-year-old media personality Jonathan Jaxson and noted North Carolina activist Jonathan Perry.

Jaxson grew up in over twelve locations across the country, and made his break in television as a guest on the show “Forgive or Forget” where he confronted his birth father for the first time. Since then, he has appeared on the Sally Jesse Raphael Show and the Ricki Lake Show on numerous occasions. He started his own cable television show in 1999 called “The Edge” and won a cable Emmy award for his show in 2000.

Since beginning his media career a few short years ago, he has interviewed Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson and toured with the Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, and Mya, to name just a few. Jaxson was also one of the top 30 finalists on American Idol this past year.

Perry, 26, hails from Charlotte, North Carolina where he is a junior at Johnson C. Smith University. Perry started the first GLBT student group as a freshman at Johnson C. Smith. After being confronted with threats from fellow students, he demanded the school administration take action to promote equality on the campus. Perry was the driving force behind a campus-wide evaluation of issues of sexual orientation at Johnson C. Smith.

“We’re very excited to have two incredibly dynamic individuals as our keynote speakers for this year’s event,” said Paul Marengo, Director of Youth Pride Day 2003. “Both of our speakers highlight how far youth activists have come since we first began Youth Pride Day in 1997, but they also show that there is a long road ahead for GLBT youth in this country.”

Both Jaxson and Perry will be available for interviews on-site at Youth Pride Day. Youth Pride Day 2003 will occur on Saturday, April 12, 2003 in P Street Beach (also known as Rock Creek Park) at P and 23rd Sts., NW, in Washington, DC.

For more information, please visit www.youthpridedc.org.

The Youth Pride Alliance celebrates the dignity and courage of all young people as they discover their identities as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or straight, and challenges society to stop the hate, the violence, the fear, the isolation, and the denial. Every young person deserves to live, love, and be loved.

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