The 2014 participants with Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) – Photo courtesy NGLF
The Next Generation Leadership Foundation (NGLF), a locally-based national nonprofit dedicated to mentoring and cultivating potential LGBT leaders, announced on Feb. 3 that it will be accepting applications for its second annual Leadership Institute. Held each summer, the institute brings up to 25 LGBT students from around the country to Washington for a week of programming designed to help foster leadership skills and establish networks with successful LGBT community leaders.
“This is a unique program in our community,” says Sean Bugg, NGLF’s founder and executive director. “We know LGBT youth still face barriers, stereotypes and stigma. The Leadership Institute is about showing youth that they can succeed not despite being LGBT, but because they are LGBT.”
“We want to make sure that young LGBT people can do whatever they want in life, without feeling limited by their upbringing, their circumstances, or stereotypes.”
This year’s institute will be held from June 22-26 in Washington, D.C., and will allow the youth a change to meet with leaders from Capitol Hill, the White House, entrepreneurs, and leaders in various fields including art, technology and community activism. NGLF pays for participants’ travel and lodging expenses. To be accepted to the summer institute, interested LGBT youth must submit applications, which can be found on the NGLF website, by Mar. 6. The program is restricted only to those who will be 18 years old as of June 21, 2015. Selection criteria for admission into the institute includes a student’s academic record, community involvement, and an essay or multimedia submission on how selection for the program will impact their lives as LGBT people and their future career goals.
“We want to make sure that young LGBT people can do whatever they want in life, without feeling limited by their upbringing, their circumstances, or stereotypes,” says Bugg. “We put them together with people can show them how to achieve their own hopes and dreams.”
Bugg notes that even though space in the program is limited, he wants as many people to apply as possible. He also hopes to expand the program in future years to accept more students and expand the institute’s offerings.
“When you look at the agenda we put together for last year, it’s really an incredibly broad, deep and exciting agenda,” says Bugg . “The depth and breath of what we’re offering is really unparalleled. I’m very excited we’ve been able to create this opportunity for young people.”
Night OUT at the Nationals, the annual Pride-themed game celebrating the Washington Nationals' LGBTQ fan base, set a new sales record this year, with nearly 7,500 tickets sold.
Team DC, the local umbrella organization for LGBTQ sports leagues in the D.C. area, partners with the Nationals organization to promote and carry out the annual event.
The organization had been selling the specialty Pride night tickets online and promoting the event for weeks in the run-up to the June 6 matchup between the Nationals and the Atlanta Braves.
According to the Nationals, the number of specialty tickets was above 7,000 and below 7,500. Since $5 of every specialty Night OUT ticket purchased benefits Team DC, that means that Night OUT raised an estimated $35,000 for the LGBTQ sports organization.
Ruby Corado is set to plead guilty to a reduced charge of federal wire fraud after the government accused her of diverting $150,000 in pandemic relief funds to her personal bank accounts.
On May 31, the 53-year-old Corado was charged in a new 11-page "criminal information" with one count of wire fraud related to offenses alleged in an earlier six-count complaint that led to her arrest in March.
The new information includes a criminal forfeiture requiring Corado to surrender all proceeds traceable to the offense.
A "criminal information" is a type of charging document that can be used in felony cases only when a defendant has waived the right to indictment. It typically implies that the defendant has entered a plea deal with prosecutors and is slated to plead guilty. However, any plea or agreement ultimately must be approved by a judge.
Indonesia's parliament is proposing changes to the country's broadcast law that may constitute a direct attack on freedom of the press.
The changes would ban investigative journalism and the dissemination of any LGBTQ-related content.
Changes to the existing broadcast law, which has been in place since 2002, were first discussed four years ago. But a coalition of civil rights groups, free press advocates, and filmmakers decried the proposed changes as attempts to undermine freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
"The impact on press freedom is very serious," Arif Zulkifli, head of Indonesia's Press Council's law and legislative division, told Reuters. "Indonesia's Press Law says there must not be any censorship or banning of journalism. So this is contradictory."
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