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<p>Sort of, but it goes beyond that. Swarthmore has the gender-neutral housing the poster is using as a criteria. Has for several years and increased the amount again this year. What I’m saying is that’s all well and good, but that’s not what makes Swarthmore an especially gay-friendly campus. Just focusing on that one tiny little sliver would miss all the important reasons that Swarthmore is a comfortable place where gay and lesbian students flourish and get elected president of the senior class because nobody cares who is gay or not gay. It would miss the fact that the student art gallery is named in honor of the school’s first trans-gender professor. It would miss the school being among the first to provide same-sex benefits to employees (back in 1992). Or, sponsor the longest running academic symposium on LGBT issues, the annual Sager Symposium that celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. </p>
<p>I’m saying that looking for an especially gay-friendly campus should start with the big picture, not whether or not there is a specific corner of dorm rooms tucked away where LGBT students could avoid harrassment that they would get elsewhere on campus. I mean, it seems to me that the definition of a gay-friendly campus is one where students feel comfortable in all the dorms.</p>
<p>It’s not just about housing. It’s also about the extent to which LGBT students, faculty, and administrators are an open, strong, vibrant part of the every facet of the college.</p>
<p>I also think that, even at the most progressive schools, there has been a sea-change in attitudes over the last ten years. It’s important to not get spooked by stories of events that happened a decade ago.</p>
<p>And, it’s not just super-selective schools. There are notably gay-friendly schools up and down the selectivity ladder. Just off the top of my head in liberal arts colleges: Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Vassar, Pomona, Pitzer, Earlham and dozens more.</p>