COLAGE is excited to announce the winners of our annual Scholarship program which was offered in 2007 in partnership with the Joseph Towner Fund of the Horizons Foundation. Each year COLAGE awards the leadership and accomplishments of undergraduate students with LGBT parents through the Lee Dubin Memorial Scholarship Program. This year we received nearly 50 applications from COLAGErs all across the country. Each of our outstanding applicants is doing incredible work to promote equality and justice for children, youth and adults with LGBT parents in very creative ways.

Winners were selected by a volunteer panel including adults with LGBT parents and a gay father. The scholarships recognize the contributions of undergraduate students with one or more LGBT parent/s who have demonstrated financial need as well as a commitment to effecting change in the LGBT community and the community at large.

COLAGE and the Horizons Foundation are thrilled to recognize this year's deserving winners, Sara Berger, Marisa Martinez, Marina Gatto, and Elizabeth Wall:

Sara Berger was born and raised in Mandan, North Dakota with two moms, a dad, four siblings, and a bundle of crazy pets. Currently a sophomore at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, Sara plans to double major in Neuroscience and Women,Gender, and Sexuality Studies and is fully committed to continuing the fight for the LGBTQ+ community. She is a member of the COLAGE Speak OUT program and volunteered with the COLAGE program during the 2007 Rainbow Families of Minnesota conference. "If it weren't for my unique (and unfortunately, often misunderstood) family, I wouldn't be the open person I am today. I consider myself the luckiest girl in the world for having such a wonderful family, and I am extremely proud of them."

Marisa Martinez, originally from Colorado Springs, will begin her freshman year at Western Washington University in Bellingham this fall where she will launch her studies in art, psychology and writing. Marisa lives with her mother but has remained close to her gay father, who has encouraged and counseled her throughout her life. After enduring serious and repeated harassment at her school, Marisa - with the support of her gay father - demanded justice for herself and others. She confronted her high school principal head-on and was successful in implementing a zero-tolerance policy for harassment as well as ensuring that religious proselytizing would be equated with bullying within the high school in the future. Marisa says, "There is far too much criticism and hatred aimed at people of different lifestyles, and I want to help cultivate a world that is, not merely tolerant, but actually loving and accepting of all."

Marina Gatto is a sophomore at UC Berkeley studying Political Science and Ethnic Studies. Her involvement in politics started years and years before even applying to college! Since joining COLAGE at the age of 9, Marina has been a powerful advocate for LGBT families and their children. Since the age of eight, she has dedicated herself to educating individuals, policy makers, and the media on the importance of anti-heterosexism and family recognition. She has participated in the COLAGE Bay Area chapter and the COLAGE Speak OUT program for many years and was featured in the In My Shoes documentary and on the COLAGE Radio Tour.

Elizabeth Wall, a recent graduate of Lawrence High School, is attending The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. She's from Lawrenceville, New Jersey where she lives with her two gay dads and two dogs. As the leader of her high school Gay Straight Alliance and a co-founder of her local New Jersey COLAGE chapter, Elizabeth has demonstrated an unstoppable commitment to social and political change.

To read more about the Scholarship program and our past winners, visit our Scholarship Page.