<p>Hey I was just wondering if Brown was gay-friendly? And if so, how?</p>
<p>Extremely.</p>
<p>Brown is ridiculously gay friendly. Part of coming to Brown is learning how to embrace all those who are different from yourself. You will meet people from all walks of life. There will be people who grew up in poverty, those who lost parents to illness, those who come from countries you’ve never heard of, those who are gay, etc, etc. Brown admissions does a wonderful job of admitting a very diverse group of students that you will learn from. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t learn something absolutely amazing from my peers every single day. Thus, going back to your original question, being gay is widely accepted because, in general, people respect you for your differences. Those who have never met a gay person want to understand your thoughts, your feelings. I’m sure there are some kids at Brown who wouldn’t be open to homosexuality, but I haven’t run into any during my time here. I regularly see boys holding hands with boys or girls holding hands with girls and no one gives it a second thought. This is not the case for some of our peer schools. As a gay student, I’ve been able to talk to professors, friends, and community members openly about my sexuality without ever feeling awkward. The Queer Alliance is an active force on campus and holds one of the largest campus parties in the fall called Sex Power God. Also, several of the male admissions officers at Brown are openly gay–reflecting that we truly value gay members of the community (heck, we’re letting them choose Brown’s future classes). If you have any other questions, let me know.</p>
<p>Thanks so much! That is so helpful! I do have a few more questions, actually. I go to ane extremely catholic school in Mass, where homosexuality is not simply unaccepted, it is viewed as basically evil. I, luckily for my social survival, am not outwardly “gay”, but when I’m being my true self with my friends that know I am gay, I am much happier. Would writing an essay about this help my chances? I know being gay is not a hook, but would it “set me apart”? If you wanna see my other stats, you can see them here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/689439-there-any-hope.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/689439-there-any-hope.html</a>
Also, do you think I have any chance at Brown? I really love the school and the gay-friendliness sounds great.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with writing about your sexuality, but being gay is not the kind of thing that will set you apart at Brown.</p>
<p>Well I wrote my main common application essay about being gay and the work that I have done with my school’s GSA, etc. I was accepted.</p>
<p>I think the subject might be harder to pull off for a closeted gay like you. Brown probably didn’t care that I was gay anymore than they would have cared that I was left-handed. But if I had been left-handed and had organized rallies against handedness discrimination and created pressure on my school’s administration to replace right-handed desks, Brown would have likely been impressed.</p>
<p>Yeah I get what you’re saying. The biggest problem is my school; I would love to be out. If I were to come out, school policy states I will be disbarred from Varsity athletics, and I couldn’t live without varsity tennis. Also, the discrimination would be much worse than the average school. Much worse.</p>
<p>Oh and also, this is an article about my school, the one time is was put in the news:</p>
<p>Rosanne Strott says she was not trying to make a political statement. She just wanted to invite a close friend to Friday night’s prom at ----- (cant reveal name for privacy reasons). The problem was that friend was a woman. Catholic Diocese officials barred the same-sex couple from attending the prom together. Strott told the Boston Globe that school administrators are discriminating against her because she is openly bisexual. “I was just trying to bring a friend and have fun,” she said. “I decided that if I couldn’t go with who I wanted, I wasn’t going to take anyone at all.”</p>
<p>Write about what you care about. If you think you can create a wonderful essay on being gay, go for it. There are tons of kids who write essays on really “blah” topics and make it so incredible they demand the admission officer’s attention. There are other kids who have done things so mind boggling but cannot write squat about it and they get rejected.</p>
<p>Brown has a very strong and vibrant gay culture. In fact, it would be interesting to know what % of Brown students consider themselves “gay”, compared to the general population, since I have been on the Brown campus a bunch of times and always found the gay student groups and GLBTQ activities to be very evident and strong on the campus.</p>
<p>Having said that: Writing an essay about being gay for your Brown app is, in my opinion, like writing an essay about being Catholic for a Notre Dame app. Join the hundreds who are likely doing the same thing. It will lost be in the noise. Again, just my opinion…</p>
<p>Just FYI, dreamsofivy, you can easily google that statement and find out what HS it was…just in case you want to edit for privacy reasons.</p>
<p>Haha I know, but I felt like making it a LITTLE difficult lol.</p>
<p>I would also love to know what % of Brown students identify as gay (or queer, etc)</p>
<p>In addition to Brown being extremely gay-friendly, I’d like to point out that Providence in general is as well. Providence Pride is one of the biggest celebrations in the NE. There are tons (relatively…considering the size of the city) of gay bars, clubs, and cafes. No one will look at you funny if you’re walking down the street holding hands with your (insert gender)friend. It’s not like the acceptance stops once you get off campus, which is really amazing.</p>
<p>Brown is very gay-friendly. </p>
<p>And to the disappointment of very many straight females, a lot of the really attractive men on campus are gay. 
</p>
<p>“Ooo he’s cute.”
“No, honey, he has a boyfriend.”
“Oh.”
–Very common exchange.</p>
<p>lol… The Catholic Church says being gay isn’t wrong… Acting on being gay is.</p>
<p>Dreamsofivy–I don’t really have anything relevant to add to the discussion, but since I also go to a Catholic high school in Mass, I google’d the quote out of curiosity. Your high school is our main rival (I am a warrior, if that gives a better hint).
I’m slightly shocked about the policy at your school. I didn’t think we were that different, both being in the same Diocese. At my school there are several openly gay or transgendered students, and many of them are among the administration’s favorite students.</p>
<p>It’s nice to see someone from the area on CC…it seems like the only students from MA are from the elite prep schools further north.</p>
<p>Haha yeah I play you guys in tennis quite often. And yeah I know everyone here from Mass seems to be from an elite school or a public school. Not many from out little diocesan circle. I actually transferred from a Boston diocese school my sophomore year (I was an Eagle…). What schools are you looking at?</p>
<p>Brown is my top choice, believe it or not. I’m also planning to apply to Vandy, Wesleyan, CMC, UCLA, and who knows what else.</p>
<p>And that’s funny; a large percentage of my good friends start for tennis.</p>
<p>If you want to chat further, I don’t mind taking it to pm so as not to take away from your thread, lol.</p>