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Finally, LGBT students have a guide to show them inclusive and friendly college campuses.

The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students, published by Alyson Books and The Advocate magazine, is the first resource designed to help LGBT students make informed decisions about where to go to college. It's all about choice.

"I didn't want to simply highlight the schools in progressive states," author Shane Windmeyer, longtime LGBT-rights activist and educator, told The Advocate. "We highlight colleges that are progressive in their area of the country. If you're in Nebraska, you don't have to go to California to find a school that takes responsibility for its LGBT students."

Windmeyer and the National Consortium of Directors of LGBT Resources in Higher Education received nominations from 680 campuses and conducted 5,500 online interviews with current LGBT students and faculty and staff members before making the final cut. The researchers devised a Gay Point Average Official Campus Checklist on which schools could score up to 20 points based on various criteria, including: 

·    Nondiscrimination statements--is orientation included?

·    Institutional commitment

·    Academic and student life

·    Counseling availability

·    Campus safety and health education

·    Recruitment and retention

Some selections came as a surprise. Duke University student and LGBT advocate Jeremy Marshall said he was shocked his college made the Top 20.

"I don't think Duke has warranted that position yet," he told The New York Times. "We were ranked as one of the most homophobic schools in 1999," by The Princeton Review. While the university has the programs in place to advance equality and it seems LGBT-friendly, Marshall notes, "the real challenge is changing the hearts and minds of students."

The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) is at the forefront of the campaign to make schools safe for openly LGBT students. Its annual National School Climate Survey is the only national survey to document the experiences of these students. The most recent survey, released in April, included responses from 1,732 LGBT students between the ages of 13 and 20 from all 50 states. Researchers found:

·    More than 75 percent of students hear derogatory remarks frequently at school, and nearly 90 percent of them interpret "you're so gay" as meaning stupid or worthless;

·    Nearly 38 percent of students suffer physical harassment at school on the basis of orientation and about 18 percent have been physically assaulted;

·    LGBT students of color are more than three times as likely as LGBT students who are white to frequently experience physical harassment--4.3 percent compared with 1.4 percent.

·    LGBT students who are Asian are the most likely of all LGBT students to say they feel unsafe in school because of their orientation (79 percent).

The effects of such treatment on performance are sobering. LGBT students are twice as likely as the general student population to say they do not plan to pursue higher education. LGBT students who were physically harassed often have lower GPAs than LGBT students harassed less frequently. They're also more likely to report they have no plans to go to college.

But the academic environment is becoming more LGBT-friendly, albeit slowly. The GLSEN survey showed that supportive staff, LGBT organizations and comprehensive nondiscrimination policies all contribute to reduced absenteeism and a higher sense of belonging among LGBT students.

Today, LGBT students are more visible than ever. GLSEN's annual Day of Silence, founded in 1996, is now the largest student-led campaign for awareness, involving more than 500,000 students in 4,000 middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities across the country.

Organizations like Campus PrideNet, a nonprofit group working with LGBT and ally student leaders on college campuses, provide educational resources and materials to increase awareness. In 1995, Campus PrideNet launched the Lambda 10 Project to empower LGBT fraternity and sorority members.

"We talk a lot about corporations leading the way [in equality]," Windmeyer told The Advocate, "but it's at colleges where young people learn to lead. The hope for the future is amazing."

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