Gay Iowa students get scholarships

Thirteen openly gay high school seniors applied for the college scholarships recently bankrolled by a successful Des Moines businessman who’s gay. The scholarships were announced in March and named for Matthew Shephard, the gay college student killed in Wyoming. Jonathan Wilson, a Des Moines lawyer, helped select the three scholarship winners. The scholarship winners are Galen Newton of Clive, Jessica Brackett of Dubuque and Paul Whannel of Traer. The scholarships were protested last month by a Kansas minister who travels the country to criticize gays and lesbians. The scholarships are worth about 25-thousand dollars each, paying all tuition, books and fees expenses for the students over four years. The scholarship winners must attend either Iowa, Iowa State or U-N-I.