Michael Evans
February 2010 will always be remembered as a special time for Michael Evans, a junior Psychology major at Winston-Salem State University. He joined the leadership of the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), presidents of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) across the country, key civil rights leaders and other select HBCU students as President Barack Obama signed the executive order, “Promoting Excellence, Innovation, and Sustainability at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)” at the White House.
The David Bohnett Foundation supported this extraordinary outreach opportunity by aiding NBJC and the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) HBCU Project to sponsor two Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, and Transgender (LGBT) students from HBCUs invited to Washington for this event.
“The National Black Justice Coalition was honored to participate in this historic event by bringing these future leaders to Washington,” said Sharon J. Lettman, executive director and CEO of NBJC. “We feel that it is imperative to our sustainability and our future to mentor our youth for leadership positions in the movement.”
Evans serves on the executive board of the WSSU Gay-Straight Student Alliance and as a University Lead Health Peer Educator for the Office of Student Development. He served as a panelist at the 2009 Equality North Carolina Conference and was recently selected as a 2010 Emerging Leader for the Human Rights Campaign Carolinas Gala. He has been featured on a local radio station for his HIV/AIDS awareness efforts and advocacy work within the Black and Latino communities, and was recently selected as the new director of Support Initiatives for Speak-Life, a new non-profit organization that supports HIV/AIDS education and training.
“This goes beyond any opportunity that you can bottle up. This is part of history, and I was incredibly honored,” said Evans. “I will be able to look back on this and say the 44th President of the United States, the first Black President, acknowledged that I exist as an LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, and Questioning) student in America.”
HRC’s HBCU program launched in 2002 in the wake of a swell of violence against LGBT students at HBCUs.
