The Austin Bar Foundation and Austin LGBT Bar Association awarded two law students with $5,000 scholarships in recognition of their commitment to LGBT legal issues.

Anya Morgan, a third-year student at the University of Texas School of Law, and Luis A. Medina Jr., a 2016 graduate of St. Mary’s University School of Law, were the first recipients of the scholarships, which the Austin Bar Foundation administered and the Austin LGBT Bar Association fundraised money for.

“Selection committee members were impressed with Anya and Luis’s stellar academic qualifications, as well as their obvious commitment to advancing LGBT equality,” Austin LGBT Bar Association Treasurer Daniel Collins said in a statement. “They are tremendously talented and have bright legal careers ahead of them.”

Morgan is pro bono director for OUTLaw, a UT Law student group dedicated to serving the LGBT community, and is working on a transgender name and gender marker change project, which represents transgender clients in Travis County courts.

Medina was president of St. Mary’s OUTLaw and organized guest lectures on topics at the intersection of LGBT, family, and immigration law, and set up the first networking program for law students and the newly-created San Antonio LGBT Bar Association.

The organizations launched the scholarship program in 2015 for LGBT and ally students who have attended a Texas law school and have shown a commitment or contribution to the LGBT community or LGBT legal issues. Morgan and Medina received their scholarships at the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting in June in Fort Worth.

The Austin LGBT Bar Association will host its second annual Sculpting the Future reception on October 13 from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum in Austin to raise money for additional scholarships.

Tickets can be purchased through the bar association’s website.

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Photo: Scholarship recipients Anya Morgan (right) and Luis A. Medina, Jr. at the State Bar of Texas LGBT Law Section Annual Meeting Reception on June 16. (Courtesy of Christopher Walter)