Can someone who is themselves lgbtq+ or a parent of someone who is weigh in on the atmosphere, acceptance, inclusion etc? Are there lots of kids who are out and living their best open life? Lots of activities and social life? What about the surrounding area re safety and inclusion (not “tolerance”)? Thanks for any insight.
As a parent, I can only give second-hand information. From everything I have heard from my outgoing student is that she has never had any issues with acceptance or inclusion at Rice. The atmosphere is open, accepting and, it sounds like, pretty non-plussed about sexual orientation and interests. There are definitely activities and events within the lgbtq+ community, although social life generally happens more based on college and classes/academic interests for most students (that’s my take). Have never heard my student express any concerns about safety or tolerance out and about in Houston and she has attended many political and social events in the greater-Houston area. That said, she probably does not present as lgbtq+ so I don’t want to generalize too much based on her personal experiences. I think that Rice has lived up to all of her expectations and Houston has probably exceeded them. Coming from a progressive area, she went into it with many biases about Texas (largely proven true) and even some concerns about Houston (largely disproven). The one thing I will point out that she thought going in and has said is true is that at a small school, the percentage of lgbtq+ students is quite small, which means that if you are looking specifically to make friends and/or date within that pool of people, it is small. The size of the student population at a large public university in, say, California would like have a much larger pool of lgbtq+ people. But since our student was only looking at small-ish schools, that didn’t factor into her decision between colleges.
1 Like
Princeton Review ranks Rice among the top LGBTG friendly schools (LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges | The Princeton Review).
My daughter is not lgbtq+, but many of her friends are and unless her group of friends is just particularly supportive, I’d say the Rice community seems very inclusive and accepting. In general Rice students seem to have a “live and let live” attitude. They value each other’s differences and there is no pressure to be someone you’re not. Rice students are schooled from day 1 about the “culture of care” and of being inclusive.
I googled “gay at rice” and was reminded that Rice did a pride themed half time show 2 years ago at a football game to mock the anti-lgbtq+ policies at another school. I also came across a reddit thread with this same question answered by a couple of students where the feedback was the same as you are getting here.
Houston is much more liberal than the rest of Texas, especially the area around Rice. About 5 years ago the Houston mayor was a gay woman (and a Rice grad).
1 Like
Not sure how relevant this is to the topic at hand, but Houston was the first US city of its size to elect an openly gay mayor–Anise Parker, a Rice alum–and it was pretty much a zero-issue in the campaign and during her terms in office. Rural or even suburban TX may be a different matter, but Houston and Rice are both very open and fully inclusive of just about everyone–gay, straight, or whatever.
1 Like