LGBT Student Involvement and Leadership will host the James M. Holobaugh Honors Ceremony at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5, in the Charles F. Knight Executive Education and Conference Center at Washington University in St. Louis.
Holobaugh Honors is an annual lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual or ally (referred to as LGBTQIA) community recognition and awards ceremony that honors undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, faculty and community members who have contributed to LGBTQIA visibility, equality and community.
Any member of the WUSTL or St. Louis communities is eligible to receive the award.
Holobaugh was a WUSTL student and cadet in the campus Reserve Officer Training Corps program. In 1989, after coming out as gay to his squad commander, Holobaugh was removed from the program and ordered to repay the U.S. Army for his scholarship.
Eventually succumbing to pressure from campus groups and LGBT rights organizations across the country — in addition to an impassioned response from WUSTL administrators — the Army reversed its decision. Holobaugh went on to travel across the country, engaging diverse groups in dialogue on issues of service and citizenship.
To RSVP for the ceremony, visit here.
The 2014 honorees are:
- Shruti Desai, associate director in the Office of Residential Life;
- Tyler Hackmann, a senior majoring in psychology with a minor in mathematics in Arts & Sciences;
- Morgan Keenan, founder and director of the Missouri GSA Network;
- Rory P. O’Brien, a graduate student in public health and social work at the Brown School;
- Trevor Joy Sangrey, PhD, assistant dean in Arts & Sciences and lecturer in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies in Arts & Sciences;
- Reuven Shechter, a senior studying English literature and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies;
- Matt Viggiano, a graduate student in computer science at the School of Engineering & Applied Science and graduate assistant for LGBT Student Involvement and Leadership; and
- Connections* Student Coordinators, Jae DeBerry, Trenton Ellis and Cassie Parks, seniors at Washington University leading the formation of Connections*, a new LGBTQIA* peer mentorship group.