.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
It only has two full-time staff members, but the Iowa Pride Network (IPN) works overtime to encourage high school and college students to band together to fight homophobia and transphobia.

“We are the only organization like it in the nation that works both with high school students and college students,” said Ryan Roemerman, the group’s executive director. “A lot of organizations like ours are statewide but focus mostly on high school students.”

But by focusing on both demographics, Roemerman believes IPN is closing the gap in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community by connecting young LGBTs with older, professional LGBTs to keep them in the state.

“Our whole point has always been to network these students,” he said, “and hopefully be able to build them as leaders over their educational lifespan in Iowa and then keep them here. That has been our goal.”

Roemerman said IPN is hosting an event next month called the Western Iowa Organizing Summit. He said that because Western Iowa has smaller schools and is less densely populated than Eastern Iowa, high school students have a hard time banding together to form gay-straight alliances (GSAs).

“There’s not a whole lot out west,” Roemerman said. “They are kind of isolated in terms of LGBT youth being able to get together; transportations issues, schools are smaller, (people are) more conservative out west. So we want to help them understand that even though they are from a small school, they have the rights to the same things other students do.”

IPN has helped establish approximately 60 GSAs in Iowa high schools since its inception in 2003, and has a goal to assist in establishing 15 GSAs annually.

The organization also touts its growing number of GSA coalitions, which are partnerships between local high school and college GSAs, and has made it a top priority to create at least three new coalitions specifically in northwest and southwest Iowa.

“We want (young LGBTs) to be introduced to LGBT professionals,” Roemerman said. “We want them to understand that you can be out and gay and have a great career here in Iowa.”