Arts & Entertainment
Pointing the way
Scholarships help LGBT students achieve career and education dreams
Jorge Valencia, director of the Point Foundation, at last year's event. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The Point Foundation, with offices in New York and Los Angeles, boasts doctors, lawyers, filmmakers and even the nation’s youngest openly gay mayor as alumni of its scholarship program, which has connected gay college students with millions in financial support and a robust professional network for more than a decade.
Yet organizers say there remain countless LGBT students whose educations are cut short by limited funds and unsupportive families. And even as LGBT youth find more mainstream acceptance, interest in the innovative scholarship program has not dissipated.
In fact it’s growing, say organizers who will host a May 3 fundraiser meant to jumpstart donations and boost financial support for the expanding pool of scholars. The event will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Equality Center (1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW). Tickets are $75.
It will feature remarks from founders Bruce Lindstrom and Carl Strickland, as well as success stories shared by some of the Foundation’s growing crop of alumni.
Organizers are finalizing this year’s recipients from a field of some 2,000 applicants, up about 33 percent from last year. Scholars will be announced in June.
“We’re getting a lot more applications from geographically diverse parts of the country, also people of color and women,” says Jorge Valencia, Point’s executive director and CEO. “We’re very happy with that, a lot of that has to do with our outreach efforts.”
The Washington Cornerstone Society event — named for large gift donors — will be one of eight the foundation plans this year to help support the roughly 75 scholars it sponsors annually.
The amount of each scholarship fluctuates based on the number of scholars, but officials say the funds help cover everything from tuition to living expenses for undergraduates and graduate students at institutions across the country. The competitive qualification process involves a 10-part application and culminates with phone and in-person interviews.
Each year, Valencia said, the pile of applications gets thicker.
“That’s why these Cornerstone events are so important,” he says. “We need to be able to raise more money to support these scholars.”
The scholarship program’s continued success is bittersweet, however. Valencia says it’s evidence that there remains a lot of work to be done in boosting acceptance of LGBT youth.
“I hope one day there isn’t a need for organizations that serve underserved communities,” says Valencia, explaining that though scholarships are not limited to scholars who face rejection from their families, those students still comprise many recipients. “The opposition is fighting even harder to make these young people all over the country and all over the world really feel less than equal, so the need is just as high as ever before.”
For Ashland Johnson, rejection came not from her family, but from her employers.
“I worked at Morehouse School of Medicine, my boss found out I was gay and I was fired,” says Johnson, who channeled the messy experience — which eventually involved the American Civil Liberties Union — into a desire to practice LGBT civil rights law.
Johnson had studied English and planned on being a professor before the 2006 incident but soon found herself looking at law schools — and looking for money. In Point Foundation, she says she found both financial support and a commitment to developing fully rounded students through leadership training.
“I saw they were really more than a paycheck,” says Johnson, who graduated in 2011 and now works as policy counsel for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, in Washington.
Scholars are required to complete community service projects benefiting the LGBT community; in exchange, Valencia says they receive support through the duration of their academic career, training opportunities and mentors in their field.
The latter can be invaluable as young professionals navigate complex fields, says Daniel O’Neill, a 2011-2012 scholarship recipient and aspiring primary care physician. Through his program mentor, O’Neill says he has expanded both his knowledge of HIV treatment and his vision of where medicine can take him. He plans to spend time working in San Francisco this year to learn even more about medical issues largely impacting gay and lesbian patients.
“They’ve accelerated my ability to pay it forward and help the LGBT community,” O’Neill says of the foundation. “They’ve galvanized the passion of mine to affirm that I’m part of this large LGBT community.”
Scholars also gain access to the foundation’s large network of prestigious alumni, including one who epitomizes Point’s growing influence.
Alex Morse, mayor of Holyoke, Mass., is the nation’s youngest openly gay mayor and a Point Foundation scholar.
“The Point Foundation assisted me financially as a student at Brown University,” he said in an email. “But more importantly, it introduced me to an intergenerational network of successful members of the [LGBT] community from all across the country. It helped give me the confidence I needed to achieve my goals and set me on a strong path into the future.”
The D.C. Front Runners held the 14th annual 5K Pride Run at Congressional Cemetery on Saturday, June 6.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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Books
‘Mighty Real’ explores history of LGBTQ music
From Judas Priest to Whitney, something for every taste
‘Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969-2000’
By Barry Walters
c.2026, Viking
$35/496 pages
Step, step, tap, back step.
Shimmy in a circle, left hand waving over your head, shake your tail feathers, repeat to the beat. Once there was a time when you could do any dance in your sleep, but it’s been a while. So read “Mighty Real” by Barry Walters, and see if your toes don’t tap.
Fifty-seven years after Stonewall, and here we are: LGBTQ musicians still face scrutiny for their sexuality because, says Walters, music isn’t created for gay listeners. No problem: LGBTQ artists and writers have often penned lyrics carefully in order to say what can’t be said, “coding” songs for gay audiences that straight (and ignorant) listeners can dance to and enjoy with apparent obliviousness.
Walters offers “just a few” examples.
Lou Reed sang about trans people in the late ‘60s and offered a rallying song for the Gay Liberation Front in 1972, the latter of which felt like a message to a then-11-year-old Walters. Janis Joplin claimed she was straight, but she had several girlfriends. Motown singers often offered sometimes-ambiguous lyrics.
John Lennon’s hand placement on the back cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band made Walters begin to understand that he was different from other boys.
David Bowie is on his list, of course, as is Bette Midler, Elton John, Donna Summer, and Queen. You’ll find Judas Priest here, Green Day, and punk music. The Village People are included in this book, also Grace Jones, Duran Duran, and Cher, Whitney, Melissa, Latifah, and the lyrics from several blockbuster movies.
Two of Prince’s band members were lesbians, and they heavily influenced his albums. Diana Ross’s “I’m Coming Out” cemented her position in LGBTQ culture, and Michael Jackson’s inclusion here takes much careful consideration.
Read about Olivia Newton-John and the B52s. And then there’s Sylvester, for whom Walters has a soft spot in his heart. Sylvester’s death still makes Walters cry.
In his preface, author and music writer Barry Walters points out that music is what you make it and that it’s interpreted differently by each individual. To that end, this book naturally consists of preferential history and personal opinions about singers, bands, albums, and songs.
Agree or disagree. That’s where much of the appeal lies in “Mighty Real.”
Here, Walters wraps his memories around his choices, giving readers room for their own views, memories, and list making. Music-loving readers might also be surprised to note who’s not on Walters’ list – there aren’t many country performers here, for example, and the overall list focuses entirely on music from roughly 1968 to the year 2000, mostly on the kinds of songs you’ll want at the club or party. Again, discuss, and curate your own playlist.
This is a hefty book, but the chapters are browse-able and generally short enough to read in under five minutes. It’s nostalgic, yet also serious in the history it presents. This is the kind of book you want to leave near your album collection, or wherever you get your tunes. But finding “Mighty Real” is your first step.
The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington performed “Soul Divas” at the Lincoln Theatre over the weekend. The show featured songs popularized by Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Whitney Houston and more.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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