Helping Colleges Make The Grade for LGBT Students
As the founder of Campus Pride, the leading national nonprofit organization serving LGBT and ally college students and campus groups, SHANE WINDMEYER has taken on a variety of impactful projects. One of the most heralded is the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index. Windmeyer and his volunteers have compiled “Campus Report Cards” on more than 200 colleges, grading them on the support they provide to LGBT community members.
“Even if you find the most queer-riffic campus out there with rainbow and pink triangles everywhere, believe me, there is room for improvement when it comes to LGBT concerns,” Windmeyer said. “But people are using our index to find those campuses invested in creating a friendly environment.”
Fortunately, Shane said, most colleges today honestly want to be gay friendly. “A growing number of colleges understand and finally get that every student should be able to live and learn in a safe, welcoming college environment, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression,” he said.
For many LGBT students, college has become the safe-haven and a place where supportive friends provide a sense of meaning. Shane said that students frequently share stories of fear surrounding family relationships and loss of resources from parents who won’t accept their child’s orientation.
“These stories of pain and isolation are still very real,” Windmeyer said. “I constantly remind people that there are still college students who are closeted and fearful, who commit suicide. For them, the closet door is bolted shut, and acceptance is not guaranteed.”
There is still a lot of work to be done before LGBT students can feel safe on every American campus. Even as media exposure increases, political gains are incrementally made, and more young people come out at earlier ages, the stories of discrimination and harassment continue to surface.
In September 2010, Shane and Campus Pride will be releasing the 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People. The report, authored by Campus Pride’s Q Research Institute for Higher Education (Rankin, Blumenfeld, Weber & Frazer), gathers data on the experiences of over 5,000 respondents, uncovering the persistent harassment and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer (LGBQ) students, faculty, and staff on college campuses across the United States, and pointing to the need for more inclusive campus policies, programs and practices. In addition, a panel of academics, national leaders, and students will travel to Washington D.C. to meet with the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus to discuss the findings of the report and offer national policy solutions to address these critical findings.
Some key report findings:
• LGBQ respondents experienced significantly greater harassment and discrimination than their heterosexual allies, and those who identified as transmasculine, transfeminine, and gender non-conforming (GNC) experienced significantly higher rates of harassment than men and women
• LGBQ students were more likely than heterosexual students to have seriously considered leaving their institution as a result of harassment and discrimination.
• LGBQ Respondents of Color were more likely than their LGBQ White counterparts to indicate race as the basis for harassment, and were significantly less likely than LGBQ White respondents to feel very comfortable or comfortable in their classes (60%, 65%, respectively).
• Respondents who identified as transmasculine, transfeminine, and gender non-conforming have more negative perceptions of campus climate when compared with those who identify within the gender binary.
“It is time for our colleges and universities to step up to secure the safety and the equity for all people,’ says Shane. “We still have a long way to go to ensure a safe learning and working environment LGBT people and for institutions of higher education to realize their mandate of providing the best quality education for all students. We also have the information and the roadmap we need. Let’s use it.”
For more information about Shane and his keynotes for college audiences, visit campuspeak.com/windmeyer.
Other resources:
campuspride.org
Articles
“Finding A Gay Friendly Campus”
“LGBT Student Harassed At Colleges Nationwide”
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