Saturday, March 10, 2007

Roomies

The University of California at Riverside is allowing students to opt for gender-neutral housing. It means an LGBT student can choose to live with another LGBT student:
So-called gender-neutral housing was created in 2005 at UCR in response to concerns expressed by gay and transgender students, who told university housing officials that they were uncomfortable rooming with students of the same sex. Now, they can choose roommates regardless of biological sex or gender identity.
...

While most UC campuses offer co-educational halls, UCR is the only UC campus now offering co-educational rooms, said Jeanette Bradeen, UCR's director of residence life.

"It's OK and acceptable to talk about being a transgender student, or a lesbian student or a gay student. They feel like they can talk about these things here," Bradeen said."It gives those students a place to feel connected -- they've got a common interest."

When I was in college, I lasted all of one semester in the dorms. I was closeted, had a very straight roommate, and was terrified of being found out. My college experience was filled with homophobic figures. It's a brave thing for a kid to come out while surrounded by peers 24/7.

This is only one example though, places like Baylor are not close to being LGBT friendly.