Being Gay at Tech ... I have questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgia Institute of Technology
1

<p>hey guys , </p>

<p>I am an international student who s gonna accept admission offer of tech ...(accepted in ea) (industrial engineering)
I know that atlanta is kinda accepted as a gay city(by gay city I mean gay friendly), so ı consider it is fine at least compared to rest of georgia . </p>

<p>I have some questions, </p>

<p>1- Is my roommate gonna be chosen randomly or am I gonna do a test to find someone who I can get along ? I really dont want to have a redneck or a close-minded roommate who can have problems with my being gay or atheist ... I would definitely prefer an open-minded,rational person with whom I can be good friend . </p>

<p>2- Are there so much discriminations against gay people in business life of atlanta ? I know that hq of coca cola is in atlanta and coca cola has very gay friendly policies, are most companies like that there ? </p>

<p>PS: Btw, I m not flamboyant . If I wont tell, You wouldnt know I am gay but I know that people are gonna talk about relationships and when asked I dont wanna be that liar . I am who I am.</p>

2

<p>If a tech student can answer the 1th question, that would be awesome</p>

3

<p>Good for you, gc, for being honest. My S is headed for Georgia Tech in the fall, and so are a number of his friends. Plenty of kids in their HS are out and everyone is great with it. You will definitely have allies at GT. I hope a current GT student replies to your post, but in the meantime, perhaps you could contact the GT gay-straight alliance to see if they have any suggestions for you. Welcome to the class of 2018 and kudos to you for your courage.</p>

4

<p>More than likely, you will end up with a roommate who does not have a problem with your sexuality. There are no guarantees that you will become friends with your roommate or that he will share your beliefs, but you shouldn’t worry too much about having a hostile roommate. If you do run into trouble, your Peer Leader has been trained to deal with this situation and will be able to assist you. If necessary, your Peer Leader will work with your hall director to help you transition to another room, but this is very rare and typically reserved for extreme situations. GT Housing is very accepting and supportive of LGBTQ students. The director of the Freshman Experience program and two of the Hall Directors for the Freshman dorms identify as LGBT, and all of the hall directors are supportive.</p>

<p>If you ever need assistance or feel like you are not getting the support you expect, I encourage you to reach out to Dean Stephanie Ray. She is an associate dean of students and the Director of Diversity Programs for Tech, a huge ally, and has years of experience helping LGBT students have the best experience possible at Tech.</p>

<p>Tech also recently established an LGBTQIA Resource Center and has hired a director to run that office. That means that when you arrive at Tech, there will be a administrator whose sole job is to support students like you.</p>

<p>There are also two students groups dedicated to the LGBT and allied community:</p>

<p>Pride Alliance(Focused on support, education, advocacy/awareness, volunteering, and social events): <a href=“http://www.pride.gatech.edu/”>http://www.pride.gatech.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>oSTEM(Focused on professional develop): <a href=“oSTEM at Georgia Tech”>https://www.facebook.com/OstemAtGT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Pride Alliance and oSTEM often partner with companies to provide LGBTQ and allied students with opportunities to network with friendly employers, and several employers even have recruiting events targeted to attracting LGBT talent. Most of the companies who hire at Tech would not hesitate to hire an LGBT employee.</p>

<p>Both Pride Alliance and oSTEM will likely have a table out during FASET and at various times throughout the year, so I would encourage you to talk to them when you get the chance. Pride Alliance also typically has a Welcome Week (various events every day of the week) for LGBTQ and allied students during the second week of the semester. You can join the mailing list for Pride Alliance here: <a href=“http://www.pride.gatech.edu/#maillist”>http://www.pride.gatech.edu/#maillist&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Please also free free to reach out to any of the current officers of Pride Alliance if you have further questions: <a href=“http://www.pride.gatech.edu/#officers”>http://www.pride.gatech.edu/#officers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>@spuds4me thank you very much for your appreciation =) .</p>

6

<p>InPursuit honestly I owe you ! Thank you so much for all the informations you gave. these informations are gold mine for me . </p>

7

<p>@InPursuit pretty much gave you all the official need to know info. However, as a current tech student I can try and share my observations. First off you can get a roommate through the survey or use the Class of 2018 fb page or Housing’s roommate search chat that they have to find a roommate. So you dont have to get a random based of a quiz if you dont want to. I myself missed the housing deadline, was number hundred-something on the waitlist, still got great housing and my roommate(from based off the quiz) was a great person i am still friends with today. From what I have observed(Keep in mind this is just one student’s observation) about the student body’s perspective on the whole LGBTQIA thing is that most of the student body is accepting. I have several out friends at Tech who are successful on campus and at their co-ops who love Tech. I dont think you’ll have a problem.</p>

8

<p>@GTJacket thanks. It’s nice to hear that I’ll pretty much choose my roommate (and of course he’ll choose me) .</p>

9

<p>Not to get political but Georgia -> South -> Republican -> Conservatives -> Pro-marriage</p>

10

<p>But Atlanta is not republican …</p>

11

<p>Yes Georgia is in the South however there is a large population of gays in the Atlanta area. My husband has worked for 2 companies in Atlanta both have gay friendly policies. From his perspective most business people don’t care if you are gay . Because at the end of the day that’s not what is important, What is important is if you know how to do your job and add “value” to the bottom line. The best thing you can do when you are at a co-op or at a job is to always go above and beyond what is required of you regardless of whether you are gay or not. It seems like common sense but there are people who do the bare minimum and end up out the door…</p>

12

<p>Uhmmmm. Atlanta is the new south. Atlanta and Decatur have a pretty high concentration of LGBTQ members. I think it ranks around top in the country.</p>