<p>So how is the gay life at university of chicago? I was recently accepted EA at chicago and I come from an area where there are practically no gay people so I would like to know what the gay community is like at U of C? Are there many gay people, are most people accepting, if you are gay can you rush at a fraternity?</p>
<p>Although I am a straight female, I have never seen nor heard of any anit-gay sentiment on campus at all. I find this campus to be very accepting to pretty much anyone- gay, straight, white, black, wants to wear a cape to class, sorority girl (ok, maybe not so much the sorority girl types), etc. There are many resources for GLBTQ (forgive me if I've forgotten any letters) students on campus- some of the most popular are Queers and Associates, a group for gay students and friends, and the 5710 House, which is a University service (not a residence) devoted to promoting resources for any sort of minority group on campus, which includes sexual minorities.
Basically any guy that can dress himself nicely on campus is gay (personal observation, lol)... I think that gay presence on campus isn't so much a function of having more gay students, but people feeling very open and supported in their sexuality. I came from a very conservative area to Chicago, so my idea of accepting might be a little skewed, but I have never seen, nor heard of, nor experienced any sort of anti-gay sentiment from UofC students.
And you can definitely rush a fraternity if you are gay- one fraternity, Psi U, is rather notorious for having many gay members.</p>
<p>Other frats have openly gay and bi members too. </p>
<p>I also realize I should point out, along the lines of fraternity life, that frats are very very very low key here and very open in terms of race, financial background, and personality. (Two of the MOST UNLIKELY candidates for fraternity life, in my mind, are now happy to be brothers at different frats.</p>
<p>Another interesting thing:</p>
<p>Student</a> Government Blog Open Housing Article in Trib</p>
<p>I found it somewhat embarrassing on the Trib's part for misinterpreting the concept behind open housing and focusing the article on "sexy" roommate pairing (has it not occurred to the reporter that gay couples could be roommates if they wanted to be?), but I thought that Kennedy's response was extremely appropriate.</p>
<p>I'm not gay, but here's my general perception: As opposed to east coast small private colleges, there's less of an emphasis on gay groups and gay student life, not that there aren't a good number of groups here with lots of funding. Most of the gay students that I talk to tend to go off campus after their first year to take advantage of the gay neighborhoods, stores, and clubs. This is a city with a lot of social opportunities for gay students as well as internships with organizations that gay students often are interested in, which is something a lot of other good schools that have more visible outreach can't match.</p>
<p>From my impression, my gay friends at U of C are very integrated in that they don't have friends just (or mostly) from the GSA there but from all over the place (same at NU). I haven't asked my friends about the party scene at U of C for LGBT people but at NU, we have Rainbow parties in addition to the frat parties that everybody is welcome to. I've been to one on-campus Rainbow party, and it was OK (DJed by John Cameron Mitchell, who's supposed to be a big deal). Off-campus parties are supposed to be much better (for obvious reasons) though I haven't been to one yet.</p>
<p>The party scene for GLBT at the UofC is pretty much the same as the party scene for straight people- that is to say, kind of lame. Usually, parties are either hosted in apartments or in rooms in the Shoreland, and are just big groups of friends (or people that find it on Facebook) that get together to have a decently good time. A women's group on campus (I believe it is the Feminist Majority) holds women's-only parties occasionally, which do tend to attract a large lesbian crowd, but other than that it seems like there aren't really any gay-specific parties.</p>
<p>I love ted o'neill reminds me that yeah, Chicago is probably one of the most gay-friendly cities on the planet (New York and LA probably have it beat, due to population and showmanship) but tons of times I've been out in Hyde Park and on the North Side and I've seen men kiss each other hello at a Starbucks, bar, restaurant, etc. I've seen plenty of gay PDA on the 6 bus from Hyde Park to downtown. Based on the OP's background, I think Chicago and the University will be a huge blast of fresh air.</p>
<p>The University has also tried to have at least one or two gay couples at all times be Resident Heads in the housing system.</p>
<p>And just one more thing... if I can slip into parent mode for a sec... just don't go <em>too</em> crazy at gay bars and such, particularly when you're young and inexperienced and new to meeting gay people.</p>
<p>I would agree that there's not really a gay scene or culture outside of the few people who participate in Q&A or Queereligious, which are as far as I know the only two somewhat large formal student groups related to gay affairs. UT might be more applicable actually, though UT is way straighter than most theatre groups in college (or even high school) that I've been exposed to, oddly enough...basically, I think gay people have gay and straight friends and do the same social things that everyone else does. There are quite a few gay students for what it's worth, at varying levels of 'out'. </p>
<p>All in all I think the campus is extremely gay friendly, both as an institution and as a group of people. It's pretty taboo to be anti-gay; I think you can even be kicked out of housing for making public anti-gay slurs. The university has a very broad and comprehensive anti-discrimination policy and a 24-hour LGBT crisis hotline (and now gender neutral housing), and even conservative thinkers seem to be very progressive with regard to gay affairs; I had an very Republican econ professor once refer to gay couples in a very positive light in a lecture. Also, the university publishes a book of area congregations and includes information about which ones are LGBT affirming - many are. There are two churches I can think of on 57th street with rainbow flags.</p>