Spelman student JeShawna Wholley wins the 2011 Campus Pride Voice & Action National Leadership Award

 I found this story to be wonderful and inspiring. Here's the scoop from Darian's Blog

The city of Atlanta along with Spelman College and Atlanta's LGBT community has reason to be proud of JeShawna Wholley. Wholley was recently awarded the 2011 Campus Pride Voice & Action National Leadership Award for her tireless efforts to make Spelman College and neighboring institutions Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University a more inclusive environment for SGL students.

Her efforts earned her an invitation to The White House to meet President Obama during a reception commemorating the 40th anniversary of Stonewall.

Wholley recently completed her tenure as president of Afrekete, Spelman College's on-campus LGBT organization and was instrumental in creating Spelman and Morehouse's first PRIDE Week. The week’s culminating event themed, WERK: The Appropriate Dress Drag Show, aimed to create an awareness pertaining to the discriminatory nature of the Appropriate Attire Policy imposed by Morehouse College in 2009 as reported frequently on loldarian.com.

Wholley's most extraordinary act resulted from a mix-up during “National Coming Out Day” in which campus officials at Spelman removed decorative items in recognition of the day. JeShawna immediately contacted the college’s President, Provost and Director of Student Activities which in turn created a new student advisory position for LGBT inclusion, a forum for faculty, staff, and students to discuss cultural sensitivity and an honorary “National Coming Out Day” celebration funded by the school due to the campus oversight on the official date.

Congrats, JeShawna! We hope to see more from you.