<p>hello. i just found out that i was accepted at princeton. i was wondering--how is gay life at princeton? my impressions now are that princeton is small and conservative, which does not seem to great for the "acceptance rate" (!), if you will, of gays</p>
<p>i have heard that at other schools i am now considering (most especially yale), it's more accepting...</p>
<p>what do you think?</p>
<p>Princeton does have a reputation as being the most conservative of the Ivys, but it's really not true. Now, whether or not you'll find very many gays (I'm assuming you want to find them?) is another matter. Princeton has a much smaller student body than HY, and if 1/10 people is really homosexual...and you factor in lesbians...and general desirability.....you'll find yourself in a sea of straightness. If you really wanted the queer life, you should have applied to Vassar :-/</p>
<p>i am a gay guy and i want to find other gay guys.</p>
<p>yeah this may be one of my main turnoffs for princeton...i really don't know</p>
<p>being the most conservative ivy really means nothing, being that still the majority is democratic. im sure u will fit in fine at princeton and that since most people there ARE going to an institute of higher education i would hope they would have the sensibility to be tolerant.</p>
<p>of course he'll find tolerance....but not much action lol</p>
<p>go to yale</p>
<p>eugh yeah but then theres also the question of academics--computer sci, math, physics, maybe economics--isnt princeton stronger in these?</p>
<p>Mzhang talked about this several months ago, and basically said that the GLBT community is widely accepted around campus. While the community is small, it is active, which is cool. I agree, there's no reason to go to a school that is intolerant of any lifestyle, but I don't think Princeton is that kind of school. At least judging from the quality of CC posters :)</p>
<p>Besides, if you can't find anyone you like on campus, there's always Philly and NYC right at your fingertips, both of which have large LGBT communities, activities, and events.</p>
<p>I'm gay and I was also deciding between Yale and Princeton a long time ago, but despite what I'd heard about Yale being more gay-friendly, the academic quality Princeton offered seemed to strongly offset any small social differences between the two. Also, from some one-on-one talking with students and bit of research, I found out that Princeton is much more gay-oriented than its reputation allows, and that Yale's gay image is largely false (it came from a big alumni donor falling-out a few years ago when the annual "gayla," attended very heavily by straight students, led furious alumni (who assumed that all the people at the dance were gay) to believe that Yale had turned into a gay school, and creating a big controversy.) As a matter of fact, as I found in an online article article, Yale reported a higher number of hate crimes than either Harvard or Princeton, although there seem to be more activists. So, the campus seems polarized.</p>
<p>Princeton, on the other hand, seems more toned down about the whole issue, although of course there are still conservatives and liberals. Just like in Yale, it's not perfect at Princeton. There was an editorial in the Prince a while back written by a conservative student about the issue that got me worried. Happily, though, in the next few days his opinion was heavily criticized in more liberal editorials by several other students (very respectfully, of course) :). Thats one thing that attracted me about the school: although Im personally not a conservative, I wouldnt want to go somewhere where only one view is accepted, and I think its nice that at Princeton, everyones views seem to be treated with respect, even when theres disagreement. I also got some encouraging words from students at Princeton who saw my post. The school's administration is really pushing hard to make it as welcoming as possible for gay students, while at Yale it sounded from the article I read like the administration has backed off slightly in its support of gay students in an effort to keep the homophobic alumni happy. Philntex is right, too, about social opportunities. Although Princetons gay population might be smaller (Id venture a guess that it is, based on the schools smaller size), Princeton has the highly cultural and diverse cities of New York and Philadelphia at its fingertips, whereas Yale has.. New Haven?</p>
<p>The point is, these schools are both pretty darned liberal, so your sexuality shouldn't play much of a role, because each school has its ups and downs for gays. </p>
<p>My email address is <a href="mailto:sarcasticsam87@yahoo.com">sarcasticsam87@yahoo.com</a></p>
<p>yoshe, you may want to visit the Princeton Pride Alliance website <a href="http://webscript.princeton.edu/%7Epride/%5B/url%5D">http://webscript.princeton.edu/~pride/</a> or the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Student Services homepage
<a href="http://www.princeton.edu/lgbt/%5B/url%5D">http://www.princeton.edu/lgbt/</a> for information and support. </p>
<p>You won't feel alone!</p>
<p>wow. thanks everyone, especially princetonguy...this is really helping...any other comments?</p>
<p>My engineering tour guide was a lesbian. She didn't sound too happy about choosing Princeton, although she did say that she found her nich of friends who were accepting of her sexual preference. She had gone to a prep school in Massachusetts, so I guess she was used to dealing with that kinda crowd.</p>
<p>PM me your email and I can forward you one of the LGBT emails that lists all the events. April is Gaypril and there are a TON of events in the community for LGBT and straight allies. </p>
<p>Princeton's known LGBT students are below the national percentage (estimated at 10%) but the administration is HUGELY supportive of LGBT events.</p>
<p>anyone have any other comments about this?</p>
<p>Do you want me to fwd you more emails?</p>
<p>Have you emailed debra bazarsky?</p>
<p>I don't think people who aren't students here can tell you much.</p>
<p>If you're attending prefrosh weekend, get your host to take you to some LGBT events. In the case that your host doesn't know where they are, you can PM me so I can get the info to him or you.</p>
<p>I sincerely doubt you fill be dealing with intolerance. The only problem might be a relatively small number of gay ppl, thus les action. Though i don't think Yale does any better here. </p>
<p>If you want loads of that, you should probably check out a university like Harvard, in a more Urban setting and thus with more gay bars and events in vicinity.
However, my personal opinion is that you should probably go for what is best for you academicaly and come to Pton. I doubt you will feel uncomfortable here. </p>
<p>okey, ....there, not here... i am already talking like i am in Jersey....</p>
<p>i would say that overall, most students are probably very tolerant. i mean i have no problem with it, my best friend is bi, and i'm sure that the other well-educated princetonians won't have a problem. </p>
<p>as far as finding other guys for dating/action, etc. the opportunity is probably less b/c of the small # on campus. but then again, u can take the train to NY</p>
<p>Princeton's '06 Class President was an openly gay black male. </p>
<p>Princeton's conservative stereotype is incredibly outdated. I have seen more "Gay fine by me" shirts at Princeton than I have in my life.</p>
<p>Most elite schools (with the exception of Catholic ones like BC or Georgetown) are going to be accepting of gay people. Princeton's gay community seems smaller and less visible than say Yale's where it seems that everyone you meet is gay (on my floor, for example, there are only two other non gay/bisexual guys, so its interesting for me to be in the minority for once). Princeton will probably be fine and there will still be plenty of gay people to choose from. The smallness might be even better as I have heard some of my gay friends at Yale complain that the gay scene can be rather vicious and that a whole caste system has developed within the gay community.</p>
<p>Besides, Princeton even has a lesbian admissions officer. For the sake of her privacy, though, I won't say who.</p>
<p>I forgot to add:</p>
<p>Princeton's administration is also combating the ROTC program because the ROTC is refusing to admit openly gay people. Princeton feels that the "don't ask, don't tell" policy does not align with the University's policies on nondiscrimination and that the ROTC needs to change it if it is to continue using Princeton's facilities.</p>
<p>(Learned this all at April Hosting. Oh, the things you learn when your host takes you to an eating club . . . )</p>