March 19, 2009
MEDIA ADVISORY
Asian Pacific Islander Parents & Friends of Lesbians & Gays Announces College Scholarship Essay Contest for Asian-Pacific Islander (API) Students
What: Announcement of new essay contest, with over $5,000 in college scholarships to be awarded to the best student essays on the subject of why Asian Pacific Islanders (API) should support the civil right of same-sex couples to marry. The announcement will include eligibility rules.
When: Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Where: Asian Pacific American Legal Center, 1145 Wilshire Blvd., 2nd Flr., Los Angeles
(parking in structure next door on Lucas Ave.)
Who: Featured speakers and participants include:
• Honorable Jay Chen, School Board Member, Hacienda Heights-La Puente School District (speaking in English and Chinese)
• Honorable Henry Lo, School Board Member, Garvey
• Reverend Dae Jung, First Congregational Church L.A. (speaking in Korean)
• Loren R. Javier, Western Regional Director, Lambda Legal
• Andre Ting, educator, CEO, Jia Lan Literature Foundation
• Cynthia Liu, creator of contest
• Harold Kameya, API Parents Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
Why: To discover, give voice to, and recognize the voices of talented API youth on an important civil rights issue: the freedom to marry. There are English, Chinese and Korean language categories. The contest also seeks to educate the community about this timely issue.
Judges for the contest include the Honorable Judy Chu, the Honorable Mike Eng, Rev. Dae Jung, and Prof. Dr. Julius Nam.
Sponsors: API PFLAG, PFLAG Los Angeles, PFLAG national office, Lambda Legal, Korean Resource Center, National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, Jia Lan Literature Foundation, Chinese Rainbow Association.
A portion of the prize winnings was donated by the PFLAG National Diversity Outreach Chapter Assistance Program.
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