FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 15, 2011 Media Contact: Andrew Stankevich, GetEQUAL Mississippi, 571-215-3498, andrewstankevich@hotmail.

com

GetEQUAL Mississippi Denounces Standards Allowing Christian Law Schools to Discriminate Against LGBT Students
Gay Student at Mississippi College School of Law Calls for the American Bar Association to Change Accreditation Standards
JACKSON, MS GetEQUAL Mississippi a state branch of the national direct action organization GetEQUAL, dedicated to working toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights through bold action will be staging a press conference at the south side of the Mississippi State Capitol, at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 20 near the intersection of Mississippi and North Congress Streets. The event is part of coordinated national actions across the country participants are calling for the immediate end of LGBT discrimination at the local, state, and federal levels. GetEQUAL Mississippi representative and third year law student at Mississippi College School of Law Andrew Stankevich will call for the American Bar Association (ABA) to change its accreditation standards for law schools and put an end to the discrimination of Christian law schools against LGBT students at Tuesdays Jackson press conference. View Stankevich's analysis of how the ABA Accreditation standards ignore Supreme Court case law to allow Christian law schools to discriminate against LGBT students, here. WHO: GetEQUAL and GetEQUAL Mississippi grassroots civil rights organizations fighting for LGBT equality through direct action and non-violent civil disobedience WHAT: GetEQUAL Mississippi will hold a press conference to denounce the American Bar Association, and to call for the full enforcement of ABA non-discrimination policies WHEN: Tuesday, Sept. 20, 10:15 a.m. Central Time WHERE: Jackson, MS at the south side of the Mississippi State Capitol, intersection of Mississippi Street and North Congress Street Stankevich, a student on the deans list at the university, lived approximately 10 years in New York State before moving to Mississippi, says that he felt misled into enrolling into Mississippi College (MC) School of Law without notice of the schools anti-gay policies.

I didnt get a great score on the LSAT, says Stankevich. I knew that MC Law was a Christian law school, but Im confirmed in the Metropolitan Community Church of New York. Im a Protestant Christian, spent many years before law school doing missionary work in the inner-city, and I love Jesus, so I dont know why being openly gay, in and of itself, is such a big deal at MC Law. On Sept. 1, 2010, the ABA opened an investigation into Stankevichs allegations that MC Law did not comply with the ABAs accreditation standards. On March 8, 2011, the ABA concluded its investigation and confirmed that MC Law failed to notify Stankevich of its anti-gay policies prior to his enrollment. On August 12, 2011, Stankevich filed another complaint with the ABA alleging that the ongoing harassment he experiences denies him reasonably equal access to educational opportunities. For a complete list of protests across the country, visit the GetEQUAL Day of Discontent map: link here. GetEQUAL is a national direct action lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization. Emphasizing direct action and people power, the mission of GetEQUAL is to empower the LGBT community and its allies to take action to demand full legal and social equality, and to hold accountable those who stand in the way. For more information on GetEQUAL, please visit www.getequal.org. You can follow GetEQUAL on Twitter at www.twitter.com/getequal, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/getequal, or on YouTube at www.youtube.com/getequal. ###