list of 20 most LGBT friendly, unfriendly colleges

[DAME]

Princeton reviews annual list is up. Some surprises.
Princeton Review

[AC126748]

Shocking that so many of the LGBT-unfriendly schools are either religiously-affiliated or in the south...

[Islander_fan]

I hate to say it, but there are some schools that really don't shock me for being on that list. For example, Notre Dame and BYU.

[strummergirl]

Honestly, many colleges that would fit under the Greek life being unavoidable are kinda LGBT-unfriendly by proxy, particularly those who resort to hazing.

[GavestonPS]

I was hired to teach in the Pepperdine English department and then fired within an hour when I said I wouldn't lie if a student asked if I were gay. I wasn't going back in the closet for a temp job. LOL.

Irony #1: the chair who hired and fired me was a closeted lesbian. She was also a friend of a friend, so I decided it wasn't worth it to ruin her life by making a fuss.

Irony #2: The next semester, I got a call from the theater department and was offered a similar job. I explained what had happened a few months before and they didn't care. As long as I agreed I wouldn't mock students for Christian beliefs, they didn't care who found out I was gay.

So it may be there are islands of relative tolerance even within these hateful institutions.

[dreaming]

Mount Holyoke should be on that list before Bryn Mawr. It is extremely LGBT friendly (I'd argue as much so as Smith).

[JerseyGirl2]

Smith won't admit trans-women. I am surprised that didn't keep them off the list.

I am floored that Bob Jones and Liberty aren't on there for worst. I was offered scholarships to both. lol Sometimes I wonder who I would be now had I accepted either.

[HorseTears]

Gav - may I ask how long ago your experience with the Pepperdine English Dept was?


JerseyGirl - you applied to Bob Jones and Liberty?? I would never have guessed that.

[JerseyGirl2]

While still pretty liberal, I was a Southern Baptist and very very active in a mega church. I only applied to religious schools. It was actually my youth minister that told me he thought a more liberal university might be a better fit for me. He was right. :)

[adamgreer]

Not surprised that my alma mater- the University of Notre Dame- is on the list. While I would argue that the student body and some of the faculty is a lot more liberal than the administration, as a whole the school is still pretty backwards when it comes to this issue. It's the main reason why when the Alumni Association calls twice a year, I decline to donate even a penny.

[dreaming]

Mount Holyoke DOES admit trans women-we had some in my class (nice ladies all). Yet another reason my beloved alma mater should be on that list.

[Auggie27]

An entire pack of my cousins (and their children!) from the Augusta, Georgia area went to Bob Jones. It's impossible that it didn't make the top twenty. They still frown on interracial dating. It's a nightmarish, repressive, fascistic-thinking campus where Margaret White would've been uncomfortable.

[JerseyGirl2]

Do female students still have to wear skirts while male students have to wear ties at Bob Jones? I saw that and said, "I do not want to go to a university where I can't rock the sleep pants once in a while."

[Auggie27]

They have a guide, "The BoJo Handbook" (!) which has to be read to be believed. You can download a pdf. It's a campus built on shame-based behavior. I'm surprised they don't have sports teams dubbed "The Original Sinners." It reads like a send-up of a religious institution's regulations.

[dreaming]

That Bob Jones sounds like where I work-I can't wear pants except on Fridays. I have had this talk with the boss who says that all women's pants look like jeans and that unless I want to sport a three piece suit (now mind you this office (I work in law) does most of its work via telephone and internet) I would be wearing skirts and dresses.

[Eris0303]

My alma mater, Cedar Crest College, is very LGBT friendly but might have been left off the list since it's a smaller school.

[Islander_fan]

My brother went to Amherst which was part of the Five College Consortium. He said that there was an acronym that was, not only said as a joke by students at both Smith and Holyoke regarding their respective student bodies, but by students of the other schools to jokingly refer to the student body of the two all girls schools. acronym was L.U.G.S (Lesbians Until Graduation.) with that being said they are two very liberal schools and can't believe they are not on the list.
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[GavestonPS]

HorseTears, my experiences at Pepperdine were long, long ago. I sent you a PM with a few more details and an explanation why I'm not posting them here.

[dreaming]

Islander Fan-Smith is on that list, Mount Holyoke isn't (undeservedly so). Mount Holyoke is much better at fostering dialogue between the LGBT community and the straight one. Smith has a real problem because not only do they not allow trans gender women, but there is a great deal of hostility between the LGBT (it's really lesbians and I guess bis) community and the straight one on its campus-and I've witnessed it.

[Islander_fan]

@dreaming,

I don't disagree about Smith. Like I said, my brother went to Amherst and his long time girlfriend went to Smith. She had often talked about how there was major hostility and divide between the LGBT community and the straight one. The impression that I've gotten from speaking with her, was that the whole thing is rather sad.