US: Seth Owen Was Forced Out by His Parents. Now, He’s Started a Scholarship Foundation for Other LGBTQ Youth

Seth Owen knows what it’s like to fight for yourself. The 18-year-old from Jacksonville, Florida,  made headlines when a GoFundMe for his college expenses went viral and landed him on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. A class valedictorian, Seth was forced out of the house by his parents for refusing to attend their church, leaving his collegiate future uncertain, until his fundraiser raked in $141,000 — seven times what he had originally sought.

Now, Seth has used that money (and an extra $25,000 kicked in by DeGeneres and Cheerios) to start a scholarship for LGBTQ+ people of color. With another GoFundMe in the works as part of an effort to secure an endowment, he hopes the Unbroken Horizons Scholarship Foundation can do a lot of good for a long time. For Seth, it was important that the foundation prioritize not only LGBTQ+ youth who are at an elevated risk for homelessness, often due to family rejection, but also young people of color who find themselves at the intersections of discrimination.

“I was told by a mentor of mine I would not have received the same support if I were a student of color,” Seth says of the help he received paying for college. He explains that he views white privilege as a “reality of society” and says it’s his responsibility “to actively do something about it.” Read more via Teen Vogue