student life

<p>This is a personal question, some may be offended (be forewarned!)</p>

<p>At Pomona OR the claremont colleges in general, is there a prevalent gay community at all or is it on the down low, very low key? Thanks!</p>

<p>I'm a town native but not a student there so I don't know for sure about the campus life but Claremont is pretty open-minded so I would be very surprised if there isn't a open gay community. I can't see it being a huge issue there.</p>

<p>Like Madcity said, the students here are pretty open-minded. Speaking as a queer Pomona student, I would definitely say that the gay community is very visible, although there are a couple of people who seem to be on the down low (like any school). I guess it depends on what you want. Both the QRC (Queer Resource Center) and QQAMP (Queer, Questioning, and Allied Mentor Program) are active on campus and have various activities going on throughout the year. These are 5-C organizations, although they tend to be Pomona-centric. Scripps, for obvious reasons, has a large-sized queer community as well, and Pitzer is very liberal. Harvey Mudd students are also very accepting, but there seem to be very few gay students there. Claremont Mckenna seems to be the only school where the gay community is on the down low, being the most conservative school. On the doors of the majority of rooms on South Campus, you'll see the sign "I Support Queer Rights" posted.</p>

<p>Btw, queer is the accepted, politically-correct word used on campus to describe LGBTQI individuals, if you were wondering.</p>

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Harvey Mudd students are also very accepting, but there seem to be very few gay students there.

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<p>Completely false.</p>

<p>it is true hmc is very accepting of LBGT people and what-not. we do actually have a good % of LBGT students.</p>

<p>i think at the claremont schools LBGT status goes beyond tolerance. i feel that we have more of a respect and appreciation for new and interesting people who can bring alternate perspectives on life and challenge our contemporary thought. it's nice that people can just live their lives and love who they want and be who they want to be and feel respected and cherished like a "normal" person. although i'm straight, i think it's great (and of course, there is room for improvement too...).</p>

<p>
[quote]
Claremont Mckenna seems to be the only school where the gay community is on the down low, being the most conservative school

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<p>I really don't think this is true. I'm a student at Claremont McKenna and know several openly gay students and one of my very good friends is bisexual. David Drier is the House representative for the district that Claremont is in and is a gay CMC alumnus (he was also voted the best dressed member of the house of representatives!) </p>

<p>CMC is fairly balanced between liberal and conservative students, which does make it overall much more conservative than the other strongly liberal claremont colleges. I actually happen to enjoy hearing the other sides of arguments, and I find that, in general, because of the ideological diversity at CMC, people are especially respectful of the opinions of others. </p>

<p>In my experience, the conservative students tend to be fiscally rather than socially conservative. I've met few people, for example, who oppose gay marriage.</p>

<p>One of my good friend's brothers goes to Pomona, and he is gay. I'm sure the liberal and open attitude concerning sexual orientation was a big factor in his decision. He really likes it there, so...</p>