PFLAG Scholarship
If you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, or you are a close friend, parent, or family member of someone who is, you may be able to get a PFLAG scholarship to help pay for your college. While several scholarship funds make up the this LGBT scholarship program, typically, you will only be awarded one of the gay scholarships from the fund, but the lowest amount that you may win, if you are selected, is $1000, and numerous awards are made each year from the PFLAG Scholarship Program.
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, known as PFLAG, is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1973 by Jeanne Manford, the mother of a gay man. She actually started planning the organization in 1972. While only 20 people attended the first meeting for the organization, today there are over 200,000 members, with more than 500 chapters of the organization in the United States.
Each year, PFLAG awards numerous scholarships, which come from tend different funds. All of these funds have been combined into two funds that are actually Trusts. These trusts are the Palmer B. Carson Trust and the GLAD, or Gay, Lesbian and Allies Dow. The fund that awards the highest number of scholarships is the PFLAG National Scholarships Fund, which gives out eight $1000 scholarships.
The other college scholarships that make up this fund continue to add funds yearly. $5000 each comes from the Carson B. Palmer Memorial Scholarship, the Jeanne Manford Memorial Scholarship, and the Straight for Equality Ally Scholarship. $2500 is added from GLAD Employee Network, the GLAD Employee Network National LGBT Scholarship, the Jake G. Taylor Memorial Scholarship, and the New York Gay Football League PFLAG Scholarship. $1000 comes from the Carson B. Palmer Nevada Resident Scholarship and the Esera Tuaolo Athletic Scholarship.
In order to be eligible for any of these awards, you must be a graduating high school senior and entering college for the first time in the coming school year. You must also self identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, but you may also apply if you are none of these but you are an ally of someone who is. Additionally, preference is always given to those who express a true interest in somehow serving the LGBT community, as well as those who have already been serving this community on some level.
You must submit the completed application, a one page essay, your high school transcript, a letter of reference, and a release form to the selection committee and the deadline for applying each year occurs in mid-March. One application covers all of the LGBT scholarships listed here, but each individual PFLAG scholarship fund may have other specific requirements in order to be eligible, but you don’t really have to worry about being eligible for all of them, as long as you meet the requirements for at least one of the scholarships that are available.
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