I’m seeking advice based on particularly LGBTQ friendly and supportive schools, ideally based on experience with anything from social life to medical services to counselling services, including trans. I’m interested in everything: the size and diversity of the LGBTQ community itself, town/state relations, teacher and community attitudes, relevant curriculum, etc. Thanks for any info!
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Can you be more specific? Area of the country / competitiveness of admissions / ability to pay / big or small / intended major, if known?
Thanks for the question. All, but my D(T)S is focused on small-to-medium-sized liberal arts, north/northeast, medium-competitive (the Ivy’s all seem fairly reliably welcoming), psych/social science but not necessarily gender studies (not STEM).
Vassar has long had a reputation for being gay/trans/non gender binary friendly.
A little off topic, but my mother, now in her late 80’s laughed at the reaction of a few of her classmates (from the sweater set years) to the trans woman assigned to their reunion group many years ago. No unkindness, just “Oh! I think that young woman used to be a boy.” Maybe it’s not off topic in that it demonstrates that Vassar as an institution was comfortable enough with its trans students to assign them to represent the school with alumnae.
Reed if you want to consider the West Coast.
If it’s not too selective, research Wesleyan.
Thanks! Ideally, less competitive than Wesleyan and Vassar.
Have you done some research on the Campus Pride Index website? It will provide some standardized information on schools and a rating.
Sarah Lawrence.
IMHO, all of the liberal arts colleges in the northeast.
Agree with Sarah Lawrence - also, SUNY Purchase has historically been very LGBTQ-friendly (and in fact specifically trans-friendly), and might fit your son’s criteria with just over 4000 undergrads and strength in the social sciences in addition to the fine arts strengths that it’s most known for.
Ithaca
While https://www.campusprideindex.org/search/index may be helpful with respect to colleges listed there, the list of colleges that have ratings is relatively few compared to the total number of colleges in the US. Also, some may be put in categories that most would not consider them to be (e.g. Washington State University as a “Liberal Arts College”).
I’d focus on the academic stuff and whether he likes the school in general. Basically every NE LAC is going to be LGBTQ friendly.
There is sometimes a big difference between a college being “supportive” and having a thriving queer community. In particular, the lopsided gender ratios at LACs combined with small undergraduate enrollments can produce abysmal dating scenes for gay/bisexual men. For example, Grinnell has 1700 undergrads, of which ~745 are men. Even if you assume around 10% are gay or bisexual (a fairly generous estimate), that’s only 75 guys in your dating pool, and many of those will be unavailable for various reasons (still closeted, already dating someone, not interested in dating, etc.). This is exacerbated by Grinnell’s rural location and the absence of graduate students and other nearby colleges.
Large LACs and smaller universities (e.g. SUNY Geneseo), LACs in consortiums, and urban LACs (e.g. Lewis & Clark) tend to have somewhat better dating scenes for LGB students than their smaller and more rural peers.
Trans students, on the other hand, often have different concerns than LGB students, and plenty of colleges that are LGB-friendly are not necessarily welcoming toward trans students. (Quite a few staunch feminists, many of whom are in academia, have controversial views on transgender people as well, for that matter.)
Here’s a couple of resources that may help:
https://www.campuspride.org/tpc/
http://www.collegeequalityindex.org/list-colleges-gender-neutral-housing
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If a connection to a diverse city might be important, then Sarah Lawrence’s train access to NYC would be a plus.
If you like the vibe at Vassar but want less selective, how about Bard?
This list is great; thanks for the ideas and links! I find the campus pride stuff a little confusing because sometimes it seems so counter-intuitive; colleges which seem less committed to diversity get great ratings for having written policies, while Bard, for example, has no written policy, but soft signs suggest it would be good. It’s hard to get a handle on queer community as separate from, or a subset of, gay community, too. The idea that the dating pool is small in a small school seems exactly right, yet the last thing one wants is to get lost in a huge school/city without adequate campus/supports. And One must worry not only about the campus, but about the state, a bit. Bard and Sarah Lawrence are on the list, as are Macalester, UVM, BU, Oberlin, NYU, Skidmore, Kenyon, Bates, Brandeis, U Rochester, U Wisconsin, Middlebury, Lawrence. There are equal tugs toward rural (outdoors and ag and intimacy) and urban (for the sophistication and vibe and internship possibilities). And of course he wants quality academics/supports and challenging peers. It’s tough. I welcome any more thoughts, on these schools or others.
Oh, and artsy. That, too.
Skidmore. Bard is in a very rural area, with a very small town. Saratoga Springs, while not a city is larger and has much more going on.