ATLANTA, April 25, 2006  –  A teen who is leading the battle to form a Gay-Straight Alliance at her high school is to be one of the two “grand marshals” of this year’s Atlanta Pride.

■ High school student Kerry Pacer:  “This is a great honour”

Seventeen years-old Kerry Pacer from Cleveland, Georgia, who was named by Advocate magazine as “Person of the Year” for 2005, is joined by the Rev. Antonio F. Jones as grand marshals.

“You are honouring one person,” Pacer said. “Yet it was me and other students at White County High School who stood up for our rights.  Gays and lesbians do not need to remain silent anymore. And we won’t.

“This is a great honour, and I thank you so much,” she added.

Kerry Pacer is a senior at White County High School in Cleveland, GA, where, in January 2005 she decided to start a GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance), PRIDE – Peers Rising in Diversity Education.

Pacer and her friends encountered hurdles within the school system and from hate groups including the notorious (Fred) Phelps group from Kansas, who picketed her school.

But she persevered, becoming part of a lawsuit helmed by the ACLU.  That fight continues as the PRIDE group meets off campus.

In addition to the award from the Advocate, Pacer received the “Unsung Hero Award” from the Anti-Defamation League.

Rev. Jones has long been active in the gay community, in both religious and secular settings, including HIV/AIDS organizations.

■ Rev. Antonio F. Jones: “I look forward to celebrating pride with my community and being the holy-homo that I am!”

His work has taken place in and around New York City and in Atlanta, where he founded a non-profit organization and where he is now based.  Rev. Jones continues to serve as the pastor of Unity Fellowship of Christ Church in Southwest Atlanta.

“I am honoured to be chosen,” Rev. Jones says. “I am grateful for this recognition, and I look forward to celebrating pride with my community and being the holy-homo that I am!”

The Atlanta Pride Committee has also announced two “honorary marshals – Judy Shepard and Barron Segar.

Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard, is executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which she and her husband founded after their son was murdered in an anti-gay attack.

The foundation is dedicated to working toward the causes championed by Matthew during his life: social justice, diversity awareness, diversity education, and equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.  In undertaking the Foundation’s work, Shepard has spoken to over one million young people.

“I am looking forward to being a part the South’s largest Pride celebration,” Shepard said.  “It was an honour to be asked to participate.”

Barron Segar is executive director of the Southeast Chapter of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.  In addition to a distinguished career in non-profit and business development, he has long taken a leadership role in the battle against HIV/AIDS.

Segar serves on the board of directors of AIDS Survival Project and on the advisory board for Project Open Hand.   Notably, he also is secretary of the board of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, an organization he helped found in 1992.

Through his work with the Foundation, he has helped raise and distribute more than $60 million to HIV/AIDS organisations.  Segar was in the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2000.

“Being nominated [as a Marshal] by the HIV/AIDS community is one of the greatest honors I’ve ever received,” Segar commented.  “I'll be walking [in the Pride parade] for the 15,000 Georgians who have already died of AIDS and for the countless people all over the world living every day with the virus.”

■ Atlanta Pride takes place from June 23 to 25 in and around Piedmont Park in Midtown Atlanta.