Matthew Shepard Scholarship Awards Eighteen College Scholarships and Honors Iowa Lawmakers
For Immediate Release
May 28, 2007

Contact:
Michael Bowser
michael@eychanerfoundation.org
515/473-0002

Des Moines - Iowa's Matthew Shepard Scholarship Program announced today that eighteen scholarships will be presented to openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender high school students at the Matthew Shepard Scholarship Awards Dinner, Friday, June 1, 2007, at 7:45 p.m. at the Hotel Fort Des Moines (Reception begins at 5:30 PM, Dinner at 6:45 PM, Program at 7:45 PM). Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, Speaker of the House Pat Murphy, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell will be honored for their work in passing the anti-bullying law and adding sexual orientation and gender identity to Iowa's civil rights law.

Four Iowa high school graduates (from Fort Dodge, Marshalltown, Johnston and Cedar Falls) will receive full Matthew Shepard Scholarships (worth about $30,000.00 each) and fourteen others (from Alden, Clinton, Waterloo, Urbandale, Fort Dodge, Dubuque, Marshalltown, Carlisle, Hiawatha, Clutier, Davenport and Iowa City) will receive smaller awards.

The Matthew Shepard Scholarship is named in memory of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming college student who was kidnapped in 1998, savagely beaten and left to die tied to a fence in freezing temperatures at the edge of town because he was gay. The Scholarship honors openly gay and lesbian Iowa high school students who work to promote tolerance and non-discrimination in their schools and communities.

In addition to honoring Iowa Lawmakers, the annual Iowa Pride Network Awards will recognize the best high school Gay-Straight Alliance and the best college LGBT group in Iowa and members of the Des Moines Gay Men's Chorus will sing under the direction of Artistic Director Rebecca Gruber.

The Matthew Shepard Scholarship Awards Dinner is open to the press, and interviews with scholarship recipients or scholarship committee members may be scheduled by calling 515/473-0002 or 515/262-0000.

-30-