First Annual Youth Pride College Fair To Be Held April 23, 2005

WASHINGTON, DC (December 13, 2004) – The Youth Pride Alliance is pleased to announce that the first annual DC Youth Pride College Fair will be held in tandem with Youth Pride Day 2005 on Saturday, April 23, 2005.

The college fair, organized with the assistance of the Maret School’s Office of College Counseling; the National Consortium of Directors of LGBT Resources in Higher Education; Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG); the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL), is a first for the Washington metro area. A similar college fair program in Boston, the Gay/Straight College Fair, is now entering its fourth year, and draws nearly 100 schools each year and thousands of students from around New England.

“We expect over 1,000 prospective students to take advantage of this unique opportunity to meet with representatives from a wide variety of colleges,” said David Grossman, Chairman of the Youth Pride College Fair and a former college admissions official. “Many colleges have a sincere interest in making diversity a priority for their campuses, and we hope that this event assists admissions offices in reaching out to the underserved audience of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students.”

Over 600 colleges received invitations to the event during the first week in December. Organizers expect from 50 to over 100 colleges to attend.

“We’re very pleased to be sponsoring the first gay college fair in Washington,” said Nathan DeCarolis, President of the Youth Pride Alliance. “It’s important that young people understand the vast array of resources a majority of our nation’s colleges offer to gay students and we hope this event allows them to consider those resources when making their college choices.”

The first annual Youth Pride College Fair will take place at the Radisson Barceló Hotel Washington, one block from the Youth Pride Day 2005 site at Rock Creek Park at P and 23rd Sts., NW, in Washington, DC.

For more information on the Youth Pride College Fair, please visit www.YPcollegefair.org. For more information on Youth Pride Day 2005 and the Youth Pride Alliance, 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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