HRC Foundation on Friday announced that
it would honor Earvin “EJ” Johnson at its upcoming Time to THRIVE
conference.
The sixth annual event will be held
February 15-17 in Anaheim, California.
Johnson, the son of Magic and Cookie
Johnson, publicly came out as gay in 2013. After appearing on E!'s
Rich Kids of Beverly Hills, Johnson became the subject of his
own reality television series, EJNYC, which ran for one season
on E!
HRC will honor Johnson with its
Upstander Award.
“E.J. is a powerful role model to
LGBTQ youth everywhere – showing through his work to end LGBTQ
homelessness that all young people deserve a safe and inclusive place
to thrive, and an equal chance to succeed in all aspects of their
lives,” said Vincent Pompei, Director of HRC's Youth Well-Being
Project and Time to THRIVE conference. “Time to THRIVE was founded
to provide cutting edge training and resources to educators and other
youth-service providers across the country who are committed to the
success of all young people, and we are proud to honor E.J. for
embodying the values of this inspiring event.”
HRC also announced that Betty
DeGeneres, the mother of Ellen DeGeneres, and transgender rights
advocate Jazz Jennings would be among the guests attending this
year's conference. The group will also honor Judy and Dennis
Shepard, the parents of Matthew Shepard, with an Upstander Award
during the Time to THRIVE conference.