LaJoya Johnson said lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender students who are racial and ethnic minorities needed a voice - so she spoke up.

Johnson, an interdisciplinary studies in social science junior, recently created the MSU LBGT Students of Color Scholarship in June 2004. She said these students often face discrimination within their own races and cultures.

"You're black and you're discriminating against me because I'm black and I'm gay," she said. "Shouldn't we all come together and fight for equality together?"

Johnson said she hopes the scholarship will help make more LBGT students of color want to come to MSU. She is currently searching for donations and plans to hold a fund-raiser for it.

The newly created scholarship and the Pride Scholarship, offered by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Faculty, Staff, and Graduate Student Association, are the only scholarships offered to MSU students that recognize LBGT activism. They are available to the LBGT student community and its supporters.

Brent Bilodeau, coordinator for the Office of LBGT Concerns, said the financial support provided by the scholarships is vital.

"There's a reality that for some students, if they choose to be out and open about their identity, often risk being cut off by their families of origin," he said. "The burden of tuition and room and board then falls solely on their shoulders."

Scholarships tend to be a main query of incoming students, said Richard Shipman, Director of the MSU Office of Financial Aid. He said in the 2003-04 academic year, there was about $43 million in scholarship money given to students funded by MSU, the federal government, the state of Michigan and private donors.

"For students who are considering higher education, scholarships are the number one thing on their minds to get in order to offset costs," he said.

Shipman said scholarships based in creating social change are not as common as academic scholarships.

"It was kind of neat because there are not many programs like that out there," Shipman said. "It seems to me to be rather unique."

Val Meyers, president of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Faculty, Staff, and Graduate Student Association, said one of the reasons more scholarships are being provided to the LBGT community and its allies is awareness among young students.

"Part of it is because more and more students are coming out in high school," she said. "Twenty years ago, it would have been difficult to find people who were willing to apply for them because the climate was so hostile."

LaJoya Johnson, who plans to create more scholarships promoting awareness in the future, recently won the Courage Award offered by the Colin Higgins Foundation, an organization dedicated to the empowerment of LBGT individuals based in San Francisco. She said it validated her efforts to create awareness about LBGT students of color.

"The Courage Award has made me stronger, per se, because a week before I got the Courage Award I was thinking, 'What am I doing this for?'" she said. "Then I got the call and I feel like that answered my question, that I'm actually doing something.

"My scholarship will do the same thing - it'll make the people that are doing something proud of what they're doing."

Five students nationwide received the Courage Award. The students received a $5,000 scholarship and will attend the 17th Annual Creating Change Conference from Nov. 10 to 14 in St. Louis.

Johnson initially became active in the issues of LBGT minorities when she heard about the death of Sakia Gunn. Gunn was an African American 15-year-old lesbian from New Jersey who was stabbed to death in 2003.

"It really hurt me," she said. "When I heard about it, I was like, 'How could someone do this to a 15-year-old person that they didn't know just because they were gay?'"

Johnson said although she is happy she received the Courage Award, she continues to wish people were more accepting.

"I'm glad that I got the award, but I wish it wasn't necessary," she said. "People need to stop discriminating on and off campus.

"Get to know someone before you judge them because hatred and bigotry kills innocent people every day."

Sonia Khaleel can be reached at khaleel1@msu.edu.