Gay Friendly College Campuses

Posted by Naomi Rockler-Gladen Jul 26, 2007

If you're gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered and you're looking for at colleges, you probably have some concerns about finding a place where there's a thriving gay community-- and a place where you won't have to worry about discrimination and homophobia. Well, if you live in the U.S., you're in luck, because there's a detailed guidebook that discusses the top 100 gay-friendly campuses in the country.

The book is The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students: A Comprehensive Guide to Colleges and Universities with the Best Programs, Services, and Student Organizations for LGBT Students by Shane Windmeyer. Read my review of the book.

I graduated from Rutgers University, and one of the many reasons I'm glad I did is this: I learned a great deal about LGBT issues. "Patriotic" as I am about my school's proud history of inclusiveness, I was kind of sad to see that Rutgers didn't make the guidebook's elite Top 20 list (although it most certainly made the top 100). During Gay Pride Week, two men were photographed kissing on the front page of the school paper, and the handful of disgusted letters were answered with the point that a straight couple was photographed kissing on the Valentine's Day paper, so why was this any different? Rutgers was that kind of place-- it made students think about issues like that.

Oh, and I happened to live down the hall from James Dale, a fellow who was kicked out of the Boy Scouts of America because they found out he was gay You may heard of James Dale because he sued the Boy Scouts, and the case went to the Supreme Court, where the Boy Scouts won by one vote. I was sad that he lost, but proud of his courage.

But I digress. Students, this is a very well researched book and a terrific resource. I highly recommend it.