Task Force Policy Institute Announces Selection of 2008 Fellows

Filed Under GLBT Equality, Gay Awards | October 15th, 2008 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute announces the selection of its 2008–2009 LGBT Fellows: New York-based journalist/researcher Kenyon Farrow and Seattle-based activist/MBA candidate Mala Nagarajan. The Fellows’ projects will serve to advance the Policy Institute’s primary goals of equipping grassroots leaders with essential tools in the struggle to gain lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) political power and creating new movement conversations and perspectives that lead to innovative strategies and fresh possibilities for change.

Kenyon Farrow, a leading black gay male thinker, journalist and activist, will spend the year researching and writing about the alarming increase in HIV infection rates among black gay and bisexual men, examining the racist mythology used to explain these figures, and looking deeply at how social, racial and economic forces combine and inform health behaviors. Farrow has co-edited a major anthology on radical voices for change, Letters From Young Activist: Today’s Rebels Speak Out, and is a well-known blogger and contributing writer to the independent press. See below for more about Kenyon Farrow.

South Asian activist and MBA candidate Mala Nagarajan, who is one of the principals in the Washington state same-sex marriage lawsuit, will spend the year creating practical analytical tools and resources for LGBT people of color organizations with an eye toward capacity building as it relates to identity-based work. Nagarajan is one of three leading Asian Pacific Islander (API) activists working tirelessly to develop a national LGBT API organization by building the capacity of a national network of small LGBT API community-based groups. See below for more about Mala Nagarajan.

“We are thrilled to announce the selection of Kenyon Farrow and Mala Nagarajan as the 2008–2009 LGBT Fellows of the Task Force Policy Institute,” says Policy Institute Director Jaime Grant. “This fellowship program — made possible by a grant from the Arcus Foundation — is designed to put the brightest and the best independent and academy-based thinkers to work on pressing LGBT movement issues. Farrow and Nagarajan are a part of the next generation of LGBT-focused progressive thinkers who will help shape our movement and policy conversations for many years to come.”

The Fellows Program is designed to encourage the best LGBT thinkers in the academy and the larger community to apply their work to pressing movement questions and problems. It is also designed to address the dearth of people of color in leadership positions in the LGBT movement. Current fellows will enjoy a $30,000 stipend and the support of the Policy Institute in developing, publishing and disseminating their work.

The Policy Institute is the movement’s premier think tank dedicated to advancing equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The Policy Institute nurtures future generations of young leaders and researchers through its undergraduate research internship, Vaid Fellowship and Ph.D. fellowship programs. The Policy Institute conducts research, public policy analysis and strategy development on an array of issues including: aging, anti-LGBT movement, bisexuality, demographics of the LGBT community, discrimination, economic issues, education policy, elections and politics, faith, family policy including marriage/partner recognition and parenting, hate violence, health, HIV/AIDS, public opinion, racial and economic justice, transgender issues and youth.

More information on: Policy Institute reports and analysis.

Source: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force