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> Devon Bearden
 Courage in the Face of Discrimination
DEVON BEARDEN, 16. Devon has spent her life living for extended periods of time with her nana when her chronically ill mother was unable to care for her. While living with her nana, an out lesbian and activist who is the co-founder and current director of the Center for Artistic Revolution, CAR, in Little Rock , Arkansas , Devon searched in vain for resources for LGBTQ youth. While CAR serves the LGBTQ community, its youth program was very small. When Devon asked her nana about National Day of Silence, her nana told her, "Our resources are very limited, if you want to make this happen, then you have to step up." Devon then organized the school's first "Day of Silence," and mobilized a youth contingent to oppose a law that would have barred LGBTQ people from becoming adoptive or foster parents. She then started a GSA at Central High School. She participated in the ACLU’s Freedom Files documentary about the fight for LGBTQ equality and was recently awarded the Arkansas ACLU’s Champion of Liberty Award for her advocacy. Devon is also one of the founding members of CAR's youth and young adult program DYSC, Diverse Youth for Social Change. The program now boasts over 70 members, most of whom are LGBTQ youth. Recently Devon moved to Greensville , South Carolina to be with her mother and started the first GSA at her new high school there. Devon wants to "live to see the day when people realize how backwards it was to treat queers the way they do now." In all her work, Devon is purposeful about making the connections between racism, classism and gender identity and in stressing the importance of reaching youth of color.
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