What is the LGBT culture at Duke like?

[Ineedtoremember]

Can any Duke students (LGBT especially) chime in on the campus climate for LGBT students? Its a bit late in the process but my other ED school (CMC if you’re wondering) fell through because I read about some nasty incidents and how many students feel pressured to stay in the closet especially during their freshman year. I know Duke has been putting a lot of effort into LGBT resources lately so if anyone can speak to it I’d greatly appreciate it.

[bluedog]

Take a look at this thread:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/duke-university/1189876-gay-life-at-duke.html
Google the site for posts by warblersrule. Might be a few years old, so if anything, Duke’s climate has become even more accepting.

@warblersrule

I can’t gush enough about how great Duke is for LGBT students. It’s simply the most warm and welcoming place I’ve encountered.
As you know, Duke has a great student group called Blue Devils United, which puts on several events and protests throughout the year. There are also LGBT groups for graduate students, law students, medical students, and even divinity students.
A new group for lesbians called Women Loving Women was created last year.
The Study of Sexualities program is growing, and its courses are pretty popular.
The Center for LGBT life is smack dab in the middle of campus, and it’s a great place to read or just hang out. It’s fairly new (5 years or so) and the second largest in the country, with pretty much any LGBT book/magazine/DVD you can think of.
Every Friday the Center hosts “Fab Fridays” where people can come and hang out to talk, eat, play games, etc. It’s an awesome way to relax after a long week.
Every other Monday night a confidential discussion group is held to discuss LGBT issues, coming out, etc.
The Triangle area is VERY accepting, and there are a lot of LGBT folks in the area (with great nightlife). UNC has a very large and active group called GLBT-SA, and it’s a short busride away. There are LGBT nights at a club on Franklin Street (Sunday nights) and 9th Street (Friday nights).
Although the out undergrad LGBT population at Duke is smaller than at large publics, it’s a great group of people. I’ve dated and know several other people in relationships, so it’s fairly easy to date. Hookups are also common, if you’re more into that.
Duke is EXTREMELY supportive and surprisingly liberal. I was a member of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Task Force, which is composed of students, staff, and faculty who work to address LGBT-related policy issues. For example, the Task Force instituted same-sex unions in Duke Chapel and created gender-neutral bathrooms.
Duke has a program called Ally Network that trains people of all orientations on how to be good allies. It’s extremely popular, and over 300 people joined in the first year alone. Many faculty and RAs are trained Allies.
There are many, many great events that go on during the year. For example, John Amaechi and Gene Robinson gave talks, we did a Prop 8 protest, we threw our annual Lavender Ball, we hosted a drag show, seniors participated in Lavender Graduation, etc. Most recently, we observed the National Day of Silence on Friday and had hundreds (literally) of Duke students sign up to participate and wear the NDOS button. There are so many ways to get active that trust me, you won’t have time to attend them all.
Unity. Probably the most amazing LGBT experience you can have. It was AMAZING.

If you or anyone else has any questions about LGBT life at Duke and/or UNC, PM me.

[NerdyChica]

Jacob Tobia, a recent Duke grad is arguably one of the most prominent LGBT activists in the world at the moment. You should get in touch with him.

[Jwest22]

haha you know Jacob Tobia as well? I run into him a few times in NYC. I’m not sure if he’s the biggest activists in the world but he was definitely active on campus.

[NerdyChica]

^ I should amend that to read “one of the most prominent young LGBT activists”.

He has spoken at Harvard and Princeton and been interviewed on several mainstream news networks so he’s definitely pretty visible.