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This fund was created to provide stipends to students pursuing unpaid or below-market-pay internships with organizations that support the LGBTQ community. Starting in the Fall 2023 semester, students will be able to apply to receive the award for the Spring 2024 semester.

The annual award is named after the late Thomas R. Stephens, the attorney, author, artist, and gay rights philanthropist to such organizations as Freedom to Marry, Human Rights Campaign, and Lamdba Legal Defense Fund.

Tom graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado in 1974, and went on to achieve a Master’s Degree from Princeton, and Law Degree from Harvard.  After Princeton, Tom served as the Executive Director of the New Jersey State Parole Board where he was instrumental in rewriting New Jersey’s parole statute. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review. Tom was a partner at Kirkland and Ellis before he helped start the law firm Bartlit Beck.  He advised and counseled clients on corporate and securities law for more than 35 years.

Tom was a very humble person, but he was successful in every way imaginable. He was successful professionally, artistically, and in his relationship with his husband, Todd Enders. They biked on 6 continents, were patrons of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Colorado Symphony, and loyal C.U. football fans. Tom and Todd were together for 36 magical years.

Thomas R. Stephens lived by the famous quote from Gandolf in Lord of the Rings, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

This award is made possible by Tom’s husband and soulmate, Todd Enders.