Neither
Keara
Watkins
nor
Stephen
Benjamin
took
the
traditional
route
to
college,
but
both
have
been
rewarded
for
the
perseverance
with
scholarships
from
the
prestigious
Point
Foundation.
Watkins
and
Benjamin
are
among
the
27
new
college
students
supported
by
the
Point
Foundation,
the
largest
gay
scholarship
organization
in
the
country.
Established
in
2001,
the
Point
Foundation
awarded
$6
million
in
seven
years
to
gay
college
leaders.
Watkins
came
out
as
a
lesbian
to
her
family
when
she
was
15
and
faced
physical
abuse
due
to
her
disclosure.
And
Benjamin
made
headlines
after
he
was
booted
from
the
military
as
an
Arabic
translator
when
supervisors
discovered
he
was
gay.
Their
experiences
made
them
want
to
attend
college
to
learn
more
and
then
help
others
like
themselves.
“We
always
look
for
academic
excellence,
a
commitment
to
leadership
in
the
community
as
a
whole
…
we
also
look
for
leadership
in
the
LGBT
community,
and
the
last
one
is
financial
or
emotional
need,”
Point
Foundation
Executive
Director
Jorge
Valencia
said.
Unlike
some
scholarships
that
are
only
used
for
tuition,
Point’s
awards
are
used
for
whatever
the
students
need
most.
“We
see
ourselves
as
that
last
level
that
comes
in
and
completes
what
they
need,”
Valencia
said.
“If
they
get
a
scholarship
to
cover
books,
we
might
cover
tuition,
transportation,
those
sorts
of
things.”
STUDENTS
OVERCOME
Watkins
lived
at
home
with
her
father,
whose
physical
abuse
reached
a
level
where
she
had
to
move
out
while
still
in
high
school.
And
while
her
mother
lived
openly
as
a
lesbian,
she
had
a
recurring
drug
addiction
and
was
rarely
in
Watkins’
life.
For
Watkins
to
transition
from
an
abusive
household
in
Virginia
to
the
halls
of
Atlanta’s
Spelman
College,
she
needed
the
emotional
and
financial
support
the
foundation
offered.
“Over
spring
break
I
was
visiting
my
father,
who
I
don’t
see
very
often,
and
I
was
showing
him
small
little
souvenirs
to
let
him
know
what
is
going
on
with
my
life
now.
One
of
the
things
I
showed
him
was
my
application
to
the
Point
Scholarship,”
she
said.
Watkins
said
when
he
saw
it
was
a
gay
organization,
he
flew
into
a
rage.
“My
father
has
always
been
abusive,
but
it
wasn’t
about
me
for
once.
It
was
a
larger
view
of
all
this,
that
it’s
not
just
me.”
Once
he
stopped
choking
her,
she
said,
she
told
him,
“You’re
ridiculous
and
I
pity
you.”
As
a
result
of
her
father’s
abuse
and
meeting
an
attorney
while
in
high
school,
she
decided
to
pursue
a
career
in
law
and
is
a
double
major
in
Spanish
and
Comparative
Woman’s
Studies.
“I
want
to
go
to
law
school.
I
want
to
become
an
attorney
for
LGBT,
women
and
African-American
civil
rights,
or
international
law,”
Watkins
said.
Benjamin
is
also
a
pre-law
student
and
is
waiting
for
final
acceptance
to
Emory
University,
where
he
plans
to
study
political
science.
At
25,
Benjamin
is
far
from
the
typical
college
student.
He
served
a
stint
in
the
Navy
as
an
Arabic
translator
before
being
discharged
after
text
messages
on
a
government
computer
made
passing
references
that
identified
him
as
gay.
His
leadership
in
lobbying
against
the
United
State’s
Armed
Forces
policy
of
“Don’t
Ask,
Don’t
Tell,”
was
one
of
the
defining
factors
behind
the
Point
Foundation
backing
him.
Benjamin
isn’t
sure
where
he
will
end
up
when
he’s
finished
with
law
school.
“It
is
an
incredibly
vast
field
and
I
really
don’t
know
[what
I
want
to
do],”
he
said.
“I
imagine
that
after
I
get
out
of
law
school
I’ll
probably
have
a
fairly
good
amount
of
debt
so
I’ll
probably
go
work
for
a
corporate
firm
for
a
few
years.
After
that
I
think
I
might
want
to
work
in
family
law
or
potentially
Lambda
Legal,
that
would
be
ideal.”
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