A campus to call home

EDUCATION For every gay kid who comes out to loving and supportive parents, there's another who becomes a family outcast. Now a college campus in Bridgewater, Mass., is moving to help openly lesbian and gay students by creating a scholarship for them if their families refuse to provide for their education. "It's like an emergency fund," explains Bob Haynor, Bridgewater State College's outreach education coordinator. "It won't cover their entire educational costs, but it will help out considerably. Colleges have an institutional responsibility to protect and help their students, and that's what we're trying to do. We're telling our gay students, `Your education is important to us. We want you here.'" Named after openly gay congressman Barney Frank and lesbian folk singer Lucie Blue Tremblay, the Frank-- Tremblay Safe College Scholarship will help newly out students who are already enrolled in the school to continue their education. Though guidelines and parameters have yet to be finalized, the college expects to begin awarding the scholarships next year.