Kalamazoo Pride, the largest fundraiser of the year for the Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center (KGLRC), announces Kevin Jennings, the Executive Director of the Arcus Foundation, as the speaker at our 2013 Pride Brunch on June 15.
Jennings has led Arcus, a leading global foundation advancing pressing social justice and conservation issues that was founded in Kalamazoo in 1999, since 2012. Specifically, Arcus works to advance LGBT equality, as well as to conserve and protect the great apes.
Jennings has a long and distinguished career as an educator, a social justice activist, a teacher, and an author. He served as Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education 2009-2011 and led the Obama Administration’s anti-bullying initiative, which culminated in March 2011 with the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention.
Jennings began his career as a high school history teacher and coach. He served as the faculty advisor to the nation’s first Gay Straight Alliance, leading him in 1990 to found the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a national education organization bringing together LGBT and straight teachers, parents, students, and community members wanting to end anti-LGBT bias in our schools.
Jennings, who was a cofounder of LGBT History Month in 1994, will specifically address LGBT history in his remarks. “You can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you can’t take the classroom out of the teacher, I guess!” Jennings remarked. “In all seriousness, LGBT activists and their allies are making history in Kalamazoo, and I want to help folks understand they are part of a proud tradition of people who have been fighting for justice for LGBT people in America for nearly a century.”
Kevin will speak at the event, taking place at The Wine Loft, 161 East Michigan Avenue. The Pride Brunch has become a part of Kalamazoo Pride weekend and runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 15. The cost is $30, which can be paid in advance at the KGLRC or at the door, and tickets include brunch and Saturday admission to Kalamazoo Pride.
Individuals are asked to RSVP by June 12 to [email protected], or by phone at (269) 349-4234.