(BROOKLYN, NY) SEPTEMBER 2012 - Everyone is Gay started as an advice website for all, with an emphasis on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) youth. The organization's co- founders, Kristin Russo and Dannielle Owens-Reid, tour high school and college campuses nationwide to spread awareness and encourage change.
The schedule includes Illinois State University, Normal, IL, on Oct. 10 and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, on Oct. 11.
Through an ever-growing online presence and outreach effort, Everyone Is Gay uses humor and honesty to support youth and keep them laughing.
The girls completed their first tour last Fall and visited campuses such as Bard, Harvard, UVA, Stanford, and UT Knoxville along with several high schools such as The Spence School in New York, Wando High in South Carolina, Santa Monica High in California and many more around the country. The success of Kristin and Dannielle's first tour encouraged them to hit the road again this past winter and spring, and they visited 20 colleges and high schools from Massachusetts to up and down the California coast in two short months!
Russo and Owens-Reid offer an interactive presentation on their tour that focuses on issues surrounding the LGBTQ community. They speak with the mission to motivate students to become and remain informed and to take action in the fight for equality. The girls are experts at harnessing awareness to create positive social change, a topic they both discussed last year at the SXSW conference in Austin, TX. Everyone Is Gay's second Fall tour also comes at a time when LGBTQ equality is a widely debated topic in the upcoming presidential election, and the event will incorporate a "register to vote" initiative at several campuses.
Speaking about the Everyone Is Gay event at her high school in Charleston, South Carolina, GSA Advisor Stephanie Mignone said: "[Our students] were enthralled with Kristin and Dannielle and hung on their every word…Dannielle and Kristin offered up a very engaging, entertaining presentation studded with words of true wisdom that these high school students were thirsty for, and which they might not be getting from their 'old' parents, teachers, guidance counselors, and coaches."
The schedule also includes; Sept 27: Muhlenburg College, Allentown, PA; Oct 1: Clarion University, Clarion, PA/ Oct 2: Allegheny College, Meadville, PA; Oct 3: Ohio University, Athens, OH; Oct 4: Whetstone High School, Columbus, OH; Oct 4: Wooster College, Wooster, OH; Oct 12: Carthage College, Kenosha, WI; Oct 13: Minnesota OUT! Conference, Northfield, MN; Oct 15: Macalester College, St. Paul, MN; and Oct 22: Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS.