<p>I completely agree that things can change for the better - and I did emphasize that this was one kid. </p>
<p>However, to me that means that if I had a gay child, I would investigate that school a little more closely than another school. I think Pug is doing the right thing in helping her son find a place where he will be comfortable and safe - and also agree with Missypie that visiting school during the school year is very important. If it were me, I contact the gay organization on campus and make a point of meeting with gay students as a part of the visit. I would have my son/daughter spend a couple of extra hours on campus in the evening, hanging out in the student union, ideally seeing the campus life with some fellow gay students.</p>
<p>Ditto to what MissyPie and Scualum said about the importance of visiting school during the school year. My son didn’t actually do that for Chicago (we went during the summer), but he did for most of the other places he applied to.</p>
<p>I’ll never understand how a parent could possibly reject their child for something like this. It breaks my heart every time I hear about that kind of thing happening. Which it does, all too often. There are studies showing that a very, very large percentage of homeless teenagers in major cities are LGBT kids who were thrown out on the street by their parents.</p>
<p>One gay young man I counseled seemed both disappointed and pleasantly surprised to find no active gay organization when he arrived at his LAC; gays were so completely accepted and integrated that they apparently didn’t perceive a need to organize. Are there actually any CACs?</p>
<p>It’s all relative. I think the schools in Texas and Oklahoma that are viewed as “liberal” would not seem so to someone from other parts of the country.</p>
<p>It is also my perception that people in Austin who pride themselves on being so liberal really are pretty mainstream from a northern urban point of view … It’s just that what is mainstream northern urban is far left liberal when it’s in the context of Texas!</p>
<p>There are several gay Chicago students who post regularly on CC, and they express a lot of satisfaction with the university. There’s not a lot of discussion of their sexual identification, because apparently it isn’t an issue much. That corresponds to the experience of my children’s gay friends there. The posts in this thread are the only evidence I’ve ever seen that the University of Chicago is less than a supportive environment for gay students, and I have a ton of anecdotal evidence the other way. But there are lots of colleges that provide a supportive environment for gay students, and I imagine that the experience of gay students is varied enough that some can have a hard time even in a supportive environment.</p>
<p>Anyway, I think we can all agree that for a gay student – and indeed for straight students who care – the LGBT environment of a college is an element of “fit” that absolutely does matter.</p>
<p>This thread certainly doesn’t need to become any more about the University of Chicago than it already has, and I know I should really restrain myself from feeling anxiously defensive (“Oh my God! Did I make a mistake letting my son go there?”), but this is the link to their page describing their various LGBT resources, including the pilot gender-neutral housing program that began last month:</p>
<p>I don’t doubt for a moment that some people have had negative experiences there, as pugmadkate and scualum mentioned. But that’s not my son’s experience (so far), or that of any of his gay or lesbian friends, or of the people JHS is familiar with. I"m sure there’s no university that’s perfect in that respect, so I hope people don’t think the U. of Chicago needs to be excluded from consideration when someone is looking for an “LGBT-friendly” school. As I mentioned, one of their LGBT resources is this mentoring program:</p>
<p>In my comments above, I tried to be very careful to indicate that this was a single student and in no way did I mean to suggest that the University of Chicago should be excluded from consideration by a gay student. Being on the west coast, I have limited exposure to the Univ. of Chicago and its student life. I simply raised a single data point which I believe to be relevant given the topic at hand. I’m happy to hear that others have had better experiences than the student I am familiar with.</p>
<p>I would suggest is that any Gay student investigating a college should do so carefully. There is often discussion of the importance fit - well this is one aspect of fit that applies to this particular group of students.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if Fordham has anything like that, but it is a very gay friendly school. My sister says that at least one guy in every dorm room is gay and everyone is tolerant and accepting towards gays. I would especially recommend the campus near Lincoln Center in NYC.</p>