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Greg Varnum, Director of Youth Initiatives and Information Technology, joined the Triangle Foundation in September 2005. He has been active in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community since coming out in 2002 and has been involved with youth organizing since 1994.

Greg has been developing and coordinating Triangle’s Youth Initiatives Program since its inception in 2005. This program includes the highly successful GLBT youth summer camp – Camping.OUT. Under Greg’s leadership the Youth Initiatives Program has developed and launched a number of initiatives in response to the needs of GLBT youth and GLBT youth-serving professionals in Michigan. These initiatives include Michigan Consortium of Higher Education GLBT Centers – an alliance between Michigan’s college campus offices serving the GLBT community. Based on feedback from GLBT youth, Greg oversaw the development of Campus.OUT – a resource for GLBT college students and Schools.OUT – a resource for K-12 GLBT student organizers. Responding to the financial challenges some GLBT youth in Michigan face, the Generation.OUT Scholarship Fund was created to provide scholarships for GLBT youth to attend community leadership skill building events. A collaborative effort with several GLBT youth-serving organizations in Michigan has led to the creation of Generation.OUT Online – a comprehensive online resource portal for GLBT youth in Michigan.

Prior to joining the staff, Greg worked for Triangle as an intern through Eastern Michigan University. At that time he was also working for Eastern’s LGBT Resource Center as the Student Program Coordinator. He held this position during an academic year when the Center was without a non-student Program Coordinator, and also during a particularly tumultuous political climate in which Michigan’s anti-same-sex marriage amendment, Proposal 2 of 2004, was passed.

His work for the GLBT community has earned him the prestigious Evans-Strand Peace Award, a Gold Medallion for excellence in university work, and he is the first two-time recipient of Eastern’s Stonewall Scholarship Award for his work in promoting a welcoming and supportive campus community for GLBT students. He has also twice been declared a Role Model and Mentor by Eastern Michigan University’s LGBT Resource Center.

Prior to his involvement in GLBT activism, Greg, a Saginaw, Michigan native, worked for a variety of youth-serving, communications and technology firms. His previous roles have ranged from Promotions Director of a mid-size market commercial radio station to Public Relations Coordinator for the state office of one of Michigan’s largest Career and technical student organizations. Showing an early sense for entrepreneurship, he has owned, since the age of twelve, a controlling share of three different technology firms whose specialties have ranged from network integration to web site development.

Greg also brings several years of experience as a youth-serving professional. Just prior to joining Triangle’s team he spent several summers working as a youth summer camp administrator. He also recently completed multiple terms on the American Camp Association, Michigan’s Board of Directors as both Legislative Chair and Diversity Chair. He is a national presenter on GLBT youth issues and serves as an advisor to a number of youth-serving organizations. He has also given lectures and presentations at middle schools, high schools and colleges on GLBT rights, history, and youth issues.

He is also actively involved with the Episcopal Church, having previously served as a Vestry Member and Youth Group Advisor of his local Episcopal Church. In addition, Greg is the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan’s appointee to the All Michigan Episcopal Network (AMEN) Public Policy Council.

In addition to Triangle, Greg is also a member of The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, The Sierra Club, the ACLU, the National Youth Advocacy Coalition, the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project, American Camp Association, the Matthew Shepard Foundation, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Ypsilanti, the Ruth Ellis Center, and the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Greg is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University with an undergraduate degree in Political Science and Marketing and hopes to complete a Masters in Public Administration degree with a certification in Non-Profit Management. He currently lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan with his partner Bobby, who actively volunteers with Triangle Foundation’s events and youth organizing efforts.

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