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phantasmagoric:
I can’t speak to UT-Austin, so I’ll defer to the above, as it may be great for LGBT. I personally would prefer UConn to UNC, UVA, or UT, simply because the area is likely to be more LGBT-friendly - if you go off campus, you’re more likely not to encounter homophobia in the Northeast than in the South.
You won’t encounter homophobia off-campus at U Conn because there’s nothing there. Literally. Have you ever been to Storrs? I really can’t imagine picking it over Austin, Charlottesville, or Chapel Hill, some of the best college towns in the country. You have Hartford relatively close, I suppose, but still.</p>
<p>As I said before, I’d easily take UT over U Conn. Maybe it’s because I grew up in the south, but I’m amused by the fear many gay people in San Fran, NYC, etc. have of other parts of the country. </p>
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Agreed.</p>
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phantasmagoric:
And though some may get mad at me for this, but I’d also have reservations about Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill. Even if they themselves are LGBT-friendly, I’m guessing the areas around them are less so. (Granted, I’ve only spent time in the Winston-Salem and Greensboro areas of NC.) The rest of the options should be at least decent.
Strongly disagree. I have written about this before, as have others.
warblersrule:
UNC is very liberal; conservative speakers like Tancredo have literally been assaulted on campus, and conservative student groups have complained that not enough students show up for their events for the school to justify the costs of bringing such speakers to campus. Orange County has voted slightly more Democratic than Washtenaw [Note: Where the University of Michigan is] in recent years, the percentages of libs/mods/cons and Dems/Repubs in NC and MI are comparable, and the chair of the Republican party in Orange County has called residents “diehard socialist liberals” who “Once they find out who the conservative is, they vote him out." Famously Jesse Helms once snarked during the debate over the creation of the NC Zoo that the government should instead simply put a fence around Chapel Hill. Each of the Triangle cities has passed a resolution in favor of same-sex marriage. Additionally, Raleigh and Charlotte, from which UNC draws heavily, have been ranked by Forbes as in the top 10 in the US for population growth and as destinations for relocating people; many, many people in both cities are from California, the Northeast, or other areas of the country. (Nearby Cary is popularly known as the Containment Area for Relocated Yankees.)
warblersrule:
Duke’s LGBT center is one of the largest and nicest in the country (only Penn’s is larger, I believe), with an awesome and devoted staff. LGBT student groups have proliferated on campus, even in the divinity school. The LGB population at Duke has absolutely exploded recently and is now one of the largest among universities of comparable size. There are openly gay students in frats, student government, religious organizations, sports teams, and pretty much every other facet of student life. UNC down the road has an even larger LGB population, and each year it hosts an annual conference for which hundreds of gay students from all over the south descend upon Chapel Hill. Off-campus, Durham is annually host to NC Pride and the NC Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
OSUforME:
Durham is incredibly liberal. All races in Durham are very liberal. To suggest otherwise is ignoring the fact that the triangle is one of the most educated regions in the country. </p>
<p>Durham is the only place I have ever seen people with Flying Spaghetti Monster bumper stickers, and I have seen quite a few.
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<p>Along the lines of the last post, keep in mind that [Raleigh[/url</a>] was ranked one of the top 10 cities with the most college graduates, and the Triangle area has a very high number of PhDs per capita. Durham was ranked [url=<a href=“http://www.portfolio.com/graphics/BrainiestBastions.pdf]#4 ”>http://www.portfolio.com/graphics/BrainiestBastions.pdf ]#4</a> for brainpower](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost ”>The MOST Educated Cities In America (PHOTOS) | HuffPost College ), behind only Boulder, Ann Arbor, and DC. These are educated, liberal people. </p>
<p>I personally miss living in the south – you get a wonderfully cohesive and supportive LGBT community that is not at all present in large cities, or at least here in LA. </p>
<p>I agree with wavylays94; while Texas isn’t very gay-friendly, Austin itself definitely is. It’s a liberal, self-proclaimed weird city with lots to do. (I would’ve loved to have attended UT Austin for graduate school, but sadly they weren’t accepting applications that year.)</p>