James Barnett
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For the Australian colonial architect see: James Barnet.
| James Mark Barnett II | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | September 30, 1986 Hutchinson, Kansas |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Spouse | n/a |
James Barnett, (1986, Hutchinson, Kansas) is an entrepreneur and community activist from Dallas, Texas. At 17, he created a social networking site for gay teens and young adults called My-Boi.Com, which resulted in his expulsion from his Christian high school and his outing to his parents. His situation received national media attention and Barnett received several awards for his efforts on behalf of gay youth [citation needed]. Barnett has since created a web development firm and a social networking site for the general highschool and college community.
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[edit] Early life
Barnett was motivated to create his own social networking site for gay youth after the then only existing service, XY.Com, went from being a free service to being fee based one. [1] In July of 2004, he created My-Boi.Com, announcing the free status of his service in advertisements on XY.Com.
[edit] Expulsion, media attention and awards
Three months after My-Boi's creation, Trinity Christian Academy was notified of Barnett's homosexuality, and the school administration called on him to further discuss his sexual orientation. The school also notified Barnett's parents about James' homosexuality and website. Trinity took the further action of expelling Barnett for his "promotion" of homosexuality [1]. A compromise was eventually reached wherein Barnett's father withdrew him from the school to avoid any damage to James' permanent school record. He completed his studies at a public high school.[2]
Barnett's situation was picked up by both the mainstream and gay focused press, with national organizations such as the Human Rights Council discussing his situation on the Bill O’Reilly show.[2] Barnett contacted the ACLU, but as his expulsion was a private school matter, they declined to take the case [citation needed].
In January of 2005, Barnett was award the Point Foundation Scholarship. Vance Lancaster, the executive director of the foundation, noted that "[James' story]is a sadly common and very real example of why Point Foundation scholarships are necessary."[3] In June of 2005, Barnett was recognized with the Lawrence & Garner Courage Award, given by the Lambda Legal Foundation, for "outstanding courage in the face of uncertainty, discrimination and hostility in the advancement of civil rights for the LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities." [4]
[edit] Current activities
Barnett graduated from Plano West Senior High in 2005, a public high school. He currently attends the University of Texas at Arlington, where he has declared business as his major. His long range goal is to attend law school.[citation needed]
He also owns and operates Pointblanc, a web development corporation, doing contract work for clients such as MetroPCS, GoodYear, Evil Penguin Productions, and SIE.
[edit] Reference
- ^ a b "Barnett concluded that paying online for participation in the site would hurt anonymity." Christian school kicked a teen out for being gay
- ^ a b "But it was expulsion in every sense of the word, says James. " Expulsion Wasn't the End for Gay Student
- ^ Group gives grant to expelled student
- ^ James Barrett awarded the 2005 Courage Award... Lambda Legal Press Release
[edit] External links
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| NAME | |
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| SHORT DESCRIPTION | |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1987 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hutchinson, Kansas |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
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