<p>Hey guys! Welcome to the family. I am a current freshman at Penn and would like to welcome you to the family. More importantly, I want to welcome you to the Penn LGBT family. Penn is one of the nation's top schools for LGBT students and we have a very strong community. If you have any questions, please leave them below! :D</p>
<p>hey guys. If you private message me, I can’t reply because I haven’t posted 15 times yet. 
Try to ask questions here! Anything goes! I will be 100% honest.</p>
<p>update: I can now respond to private messages. If you are not comfortable posting publicly, ask me privately!</p>
<p>A student asked:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What kind of student support systems are in place/is there an active LGBT student community?</p></li>
<li><p>Is there a lot of homophobia on the campus? How much of the student body would you say is conservative?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My response:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>We have a lot of student groups centered around the LGBT community. We have QSA (Queer Student Alliance), Lambda Alliance, Non-Cis group, the LGBT Center, and many more. There is a group specifically from LGBT Wharton Students. The LGBT community is very active! There is a lot going on that you can get involved in. They always have events going on too so you can partake in them even if you are not a member of the group.</p></li>
<li><p>At the JEWniversity of PennsylGAYnia, there is little to none homophobia. Like our unofficial title says, Penn has a lot of Jewish people and Gay people. It is a part of the culture and community. I have yet to encounter any negativity from anyone. I must warn you, there is a group of really religious people that come to campus like once a month and preech about how homosexuality is a sin outside of Van Pelt, but, as a community, we support each other very well.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Quick update and bump up. </p>
<p>Apparently, if you indicated in your application that you were LGBT, someone from the LGBT community will reach out to you very soon to answer any questions you have and to make you feel at home! </p>
<p>THIS is why I love Penn. <3</p>
<p>While I am not LGBT, this is pretty awesome for you to be doing this thread.</p>
<p>BTW. Honeybooboo can give you a better sense of how this works at UPenn, but a lot of the Ivy LGBT groups are not just limited to students/staff/faculty who identify as LGBT. Students who identify as hetero can and also do participate. You can give your LGBT friends and colleagues some moral support. Also, some of the campus LGBT ‘safe spaces’ are sometimes staffed by students/house/dorm tutors who are straight. Most of the Ivies are pretty good in this regard. Resources are definitely there.</p>
<p>Penn is one of the LGBT-friendliest institutions around. We have eight undergraduate-run LGBT groups and an umbrella group to oversee them all, actually, so there’s something for everyone. The groups vary in nature, from professional to social to activist. There’s even a pretty sweet LGBT center that’s a converted townhouse. </p>
<p>Even if you’re not involved in an official capacity, you’ll find an unusual degree of acceptance here. At least half the frats have openly gay brothers, and there are tons of open parties thrown by groups or the community. You can choose to be immersed in the community, be totally unassociated, or somewhere in between–few people, if any, will give you a hard time no matter where you fall.</p>
<p>It is true that someone from the LGBT community will reach out to you if you’re flagged as LGBT–coming out on your app, if it’s natural for you, is viewed as a positive to Penn Admissions. That’s echoed, at least in Wharton, on the professional side–if you’re wondering whether being out will be a hindrance here, take a look at the OUBC conference (outforbusiness.com), hosted at J.P. Morgan and attended by 200 top LGBT kids, 25 from Penn alone.</p>