Campus Pride (CP) is a Charlotte-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization¹ that organizes, trains, and funds LGBTQ students and their “allies” to be LGBTQ social policy activists on college campuses across the country.²

CP is most known for its “Shame List,” which primarily consists of Christian colleges that CP decides are “dangerous” for LGBTQ youth.³ The list, and with it CP, grew in influence among leftist groups during the final year of the Obama administration when the Department of Education published a list of Christian colleges that have applied for a Title IX exemption.⁴ The two lists overlapped significantly.

Activities

CP was founded in 2001 by M. Chad Wilson, Sarah E. Holmes, and Shane L. Windmeyer. It was initially called Campus PrideNet and was an internet platform used to provide college information to LGBTQ students. In 2005, the name was changed to Campus Pride and the organization began focusing on LGBT activism within college campuses.⁵

It’s most notable activities are the Shame List, Safe Zone initiative, and student activism training and funding.

Shame List

The only notable criteria used to qualify the schools on CP’s Shame List is if the school has applied for or received a Title IX exemption.⁴ Title IX exemptions are legal and not uncommon for many types of religious organizations, including colleges.⁶ The one other method used to put colleges on the list is if students allege “hatred.” There is no filtration of false reports, and no evidence of actual discrimination  is required for listing.⁷

Nevertheless, CP has dubbed the religious colleges on its list as the “absolute worst campuses.” It has been published annually since 2015 to steer LGBT people from those colleges.⁸

The precursor to the Shame List is an online tool called the Campus Pride Index, which was launched in 2007. The index rates colleges’ policies to steer LGBT students to universities with leftist policies.⁹

Safe Zone

Safe Zone is an initiative by CP to organize, train, and fund LGBT students and other “allies” to create “safe spaces” on  campus. CP insists this is necessary to make LGBT people’s allies and those who don’t support their policies easily identifiable, and to allow supportive opinions to be voiced.¹⁰

Student Activism

CP’s Student Leader Network provides money and resources to LGBTQ students to create desired campus policies along with “ally” straight students. It primarily focuses on Southern and rural campuses.¹¹

CP Summer Leadership Academy is a yearly group of about 70 to 75 students and 15 to 20 youth educators who participate in a six-day “leadership development” course to learn how to implement “social justice” on their campuses.¹²

These are the two major examples of student activism training and funding activities CP does among many others including college fairs, job fairs, online trainings, and Greek life training.¹³

Funding

In 2015, CP had $433,264 in revenue and $472,570 in expenses.¹⁴ Out of those expenses $234,596 was spent directly on funding and training students to be LGBTQ social policy activists on their campuses.¹⁵

CP has several recognizable sponsors.¹⁶ The list includes: LGBT Sports Foundation, NCAA Inclusion, David Bohnett Foundation, Charlotte Lesbian and Gay Fund, B.W. Bastian Foundation, The Bar 316, Rosedale Infection Diseases, Chartwells, Sodexo, Alliance for Full Acceptance, Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education, American College Professional Association, Human Rights Campaign, National Black Justice Coalition, Food Lion, Teach For America, Tyvola Design, National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association, Reemprise Fund, Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund, BeTrue (Nike), The Palette Fund, B.W. Bastian Foundation, Wells Fargo, The PeaceMan Foundation, Sun Trust Bank. ^{13 16}

People

Shane Windmeyer is the current executive director and a co-founder of CP. ¹⁷ In 2012, Windmeyer started a national boycott of Chick-fil-A¹⁸ (which proved wildly unsuccessful¹⁹) after the fast-food chain’s owner, Dan Cathy, explained his company’s religious opposition to gay marriage in an interview.²⁰ After the interview, Windmeyer accused the company of supporting “hate groups” for its contributions to religious organizations.²¹ Windmeyer and Cathy later made peace after Cathy had reached out to him on several occasions.²²

Campus Pride’s board of directors include: ²³

Christian Wiggins, Chairman

Frank Wrenn is Vice Chairperson of CP. Wrenn also serves as Corporate Development Officer for Habitat for Humanity.

Amy Donde, Secretary/Treasurer

Jay Alston

Michael Bumbry

Joe Davis

Keyonna Fowler

Yovanna Garcia

Paul Kelly

Rebby Kern

Mike Mazza

Grant H. Sikes

Barbara Verde

Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington

John Witherington (ex-officio) was previously National Board Chair for CP. He is the Director of fixed income sales and trading at Wells Fargo Securities, which is one of CP’s sponsors.

Affiliations

CP has several partners listed that it works with concurrently including: ²⁴

ACPA College Student Educators International

Anti-Defamation League

Association of Fraternal Leadership & Values

Aids United

Athlete Ally

Boston Alliance of LGBT Youth

Brazen

Charlotte Pride

Consortium of High Education

The Freedom Center for Social Justice

GLAAD

GLSEN

Go Athletes!

Google Grants

Huffington Post – Gay Voices

Kognito Interactive

Matthew Shepard Foundation

MBLGTACC

Milwaukee Pride

Napa Valley College

NASPA

NBJC

UnidosUS (formerly National Council of La Raza)

NIRSA

NOGLSTP

The Northeast LGBT Conference

Point Foundation

Soulforce Sabotage Christian Supremacy

Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)

Teazled

The Trevor Project

1. Campus Pride, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2015, line I.
2. “About Campus Pride.” Campus Pride. Accessed November 01, 2017. https://www.campuspride.org/about/.
3. “Campus Pride releases new Shame List with.” Campus Pride. August 29, 2016. Accessed October 29, 2017. https://www.campuspride.org/campus-pride-releases-new-shame-list-with-the-absolute-worst-campuses-for-lgbtq-youth-in-the-nation/.
4. Kumar , Anugrah. “Education Dept. Releases ‘Shame List’ of Faith-Based Colleges Seeking Title IX Exemption From Transgender Rules.” The Christian Post. April 30, 2016. Accessed November 09, 2017. https://www.christianpost.com/news/education-dept-releases-shame-list-faith-based-colleges-seeking-title-ix-exemption-163047/.
5. “About Campus Pride.” Campus Pride. Accessed November 2, 2017. https://www.campuspride.org/about/.
6. Office for Civil Rights. “Exemptions from Title IX.” US Department of Education (ED). January 25, 2017. Accessed November 2, 2017. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/t9-rel-exempt/index.html.
7. Lamb, Matt. “Most Christian colleges on LGBT shame list have no documented discrimination complaints.” The College Fix. September 15, 2016. Accessed November 1, 2017. https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/29022/.
8. “Shame List: The Absolute Worst Campuses for LGBTQ Youth.” Campus Pride. Accessed November 2, 2017. https://www.campuspride.org/shamelist/.
9. “Campus Pride Index Search.” Pride Index. Accessed November 3, 2017. https://www.campusprideindex.org/search/index.
10. Staff. “The Importance of Safe Zone.” Campus Pride. June 12, 2013. Accessed November 3, 2017. https://www.campuspride.org/resources/the-importance-of-safe-zone/.
11. Campus Pride, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2015, Part III, line 4b.
12. Campus Pride, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2015, Part III, line 4c.
13. Staff. “2015 Campus Pride Annual Report.” Campus Pride. 2015. Accessed November 2, 2017. https://www.campuspride.org/about/finances/.
14. Campus Pride, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2015, Part I, lines 12 & 18.
15. Campus Pride, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2015, Part I, lines 4b & 4c.
16. “National Sponsors.” Campus Pride. Accessed November 2, 2017. https://www.campuspride.org/about/national-sponsors/.
17. “Shane Windmeyer.” Campus Pride. Accessed November 3, 2017. https://www.campuspride.org/shanewindmeyer/.
18. Tenety, Elizabeth. “Five simple lessons from Shane Windmeyer’s friendship with Chick-fil-A’s Dan Cathy.” The Washington Post. January 31, 2013. Accessed November 14, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/five-simple-lessons-from-shane-windmeyers-friendship-with-chick-fil-as-dan-cathy/2013/01/31/1e4c09fa-6bce-11e2-bd36-c0fe61a205f6_story.html?utm_term=.ae8890d5ec6a.
19. Harwell, Drew. “Chick-fil-A rules the roost, even 6 days a week.” The Washington Post. September 08, 2014. Accessed November 17, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/chick-fil-a-rules-the-roost-even-6-days-a-week/2014/09/08/82bc0540-379f-11e4-bdfb-de4104544a37_story.html
20. Blume, Allan . “‘Guilty as charged,’ Cathy says of Chick-fil-A’s stand on biblical & family values.” Baptist Press. July 16, 2012. Accessed November 2, 2017. http://www.bpnews.net/38271.
21. Windmeyer, Shane L. “The Secret Recipe for Funding Hate Groups: 5 Simple Facts About Chick-fil-A.” The Huffington Post. August 10, 2012. Accessed November 2, 2017. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shane-l-windmeyer/5-simple-facts-about-chick-fil-a_b_1751404.html.
22. Windmeyer, Shane L. “Dan and Me: My Coming Out as a Friend of Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A.” The Huffington Post. January 28, 2013. Accessed November 14, 2017. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/shane-l-windmeyer/dan-cathy-chick-fil-a_b_2564379.html.
23. “Board of Directors.” Campus Pride. Accessed November 2, 2017. https://www.campuspride.org/about/board-of-directors/.
24. “Partners.” Campus Pride. Accessed November 2, 2017. https://www.campuspride.org/about/partners/.