FFRF has awarded $30,000 in First in the Family Humanist Forward Freethought scholarships to seven students, thanks to the incredible generosity of FFRF benefactor Lance Bredvold. The students were selected by Black Skeptics Los Angeles (BSLA), an African American humanist/atheist-based organization.

Marquan Adams, UCLA, $5,000

Knowing that humanists often advocate for the separation of church and state, and understanding how LGBTQ+ individuals are frequently targeted by religiously motivated laws such as those opposing same-sex marriage, I came to the realization that I will become the humanist to try to stop this oppression of the LGBTQ+ community.

I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but one thing I was sure of was that in order to start this new wave of humanism, I had to become somebody my peers respected, even the homophobic ones. So, I started grinding academically, becoming one of the top 10 students in my class. I also began putting myself out there socially. Soon, I became a figure for the LGBTQ+ students at my campus.

I was selected out of 30 students to read my AP Research Capstone project findings during an assembly, which detailed how verbal abuse negatively impacts queer students in our city. After my speech, many students who were once against the queer community reached out to me and told me they didn’t know how devastating the effects were, and that they’d change. Even my school’s football team, known for having many homophobic individuals, reached out to the LGBTQ+ club and wanted to fundraise with us, thus building long-lasting friendships. This served as evidence that this new wave of humanism is effective, being that many of those students are strongly religious, yet they put aside their religious beliefs to help and build friendships.

BSLA is the first secular humanist/atheist organization to specifically address college pipelining for youth of color through its ongoing scholarship, college and K-12 youth leadership partnerships. FFRF has proudly partnered with BSLA for 12 years to provide tuition grants, gradually increasing the funding and number of scholarships.

Those who would like to donate toward the Forward Freethought Fund, a needs-based scholarship dedicated to helping freethinking students who might otherwise be unable to attend college, may designate “tuition scholarships” in the ffrf.org/donate dropdown or earmark checks for “Forward Freethought Fund” or “tuition scholarships.” All donations to FFRF remain deductible for income-tax purposes.

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