Hi Everyone,

On the eve of our Spring Outreach Trip, we have learned the distressing news that two candidates running for President of the United States are making an appearance at the rabidly anti-GLBT Messiah College in Pennsylvania.  And you can rest assured they will not be there to talk about the faith-based anti-GLBT bullying at that school.

For many years, we have spoken about how political leaders in this country can nearly glamorize religious educational institutions which cause immense pain and hardship for GLBT students.  This is yet another example.

It was just a short time again that another of the presidential candidates visited Liberty University, again giving credibility and undue credit to a religious educational institution responsible for causing great damage to so many of our GLBT brothers and sisters.

We grieve when the leaders or those who wish to be leaders of this country bow down to the seductive glance of approval from members of the religious right.  Especially when we have spent more than ten years and more than 3000 volunteered hours helping to heal the wounds caused by these schools and inflicted upon our students.  (Messiah College and Liberty University are two of these schools.)

Maybe it is fitting that this is occurring on the eve of our Spring Outreach/Educational trip.  It is a long, dusty, seemingly endless road.  As we have always done in the past, we use negative experiences to motivate us to do positive things.  So that's what we will be doing with this alarming information.

At moments like this, when it can feel like the leaders of this country or those who desire to be leaders of this country cast a cold shoulder to the human suffering in these schools, it is now that the work of HeartStrong, the only non profit in the world with the sole mission of reaching these students, must push further and harder.

And it is your support that enables us to do.  As an all volunteer organization, HeartStrong has fulfilled its mission statement quietly and consistently for more than 10 years and will continue to do the same because of the few who see our vision and make it possible.

Marc Adams

Executive Director