The 12 Least LGBT-Friendly Colleges In The Country: Princeton Review List

The United States has made a lot of progress towards equality for the LGBT community, but there are some colleges that still aren't very welcoming to all students.

The Princeton Review named the least LGBT-friendly colleges in the country, based off of questionnaires distributed to 122,000 students throughout the country.

Wheaton College in Illinois tops the list. However, students and alumni have been trying to change the attitudes there.

HuffPost Chicago reports:

In May, some 400 gay, lesbian and supportive alumni of the Christian school signed onto an open letter, which OneWheaton organized, addressed to the student body urging them to resist "feeling alienated, ashamed and afraid" despite the campus's reputation as not being particularly open when it comes to LGBT issues. The letter was issued in response to the school sponsoring a speaker who encouraged those who "experience same-sex attraction" to choose a life of celibacy instead.

The Chicago Tribune reports that, in response to the ranking, the college issued the following statement: "Our goal is to follow God's truth, including what the Bible says about sexual ethics. … While some may interpret this stance as hostility to the LGBTQ community, our aim is to stand respectfully and graciously for biblical truth."

Take a look at the 12 least LGBT-friendly colleges in the slideshow below:

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• Wheaton College

  Wheaton, Illinois Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WheatonOTB_1_thumbFull.jpg" target="_hplink">Wakawakaafrica</a>

• Grove City College

  Grove City, PA Photo Credit:<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gcc_quad.jpg" target="_hplink"> The enlightenment </a>

• Brigham Young University

  Provo, UT Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BYU_Campus_North.jpg" target="_hplink">Jaren Wilkey</a>

• Hampden-Sydney College

  Hampden-Sydney, VA Photo Credit: HSC on Facebook<a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150454553910792&set=a.10150368757820792.408484.22475845791&type=3&theater" target="_hplink">HSC on Facebook</a>

• College of the Ozarks

  Point Lookout, MO Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UserKTrimble_AP_College_of_the_Ozarks_Pt_Lookout_Mo_Oct_2009.jpg" target="_hplink">KTrimble</a>

• University of Notre Dame

  Notre Dame, IN Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:University_of_Notre_Dame's_God_Quad.JPG" target="_hplink">Michael Fernandes</a>

• Thomas Aquinas College

  Santa Paula, CA Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Aquinas_Chapel_Facade.jpg" target="_hplink">Pgnielsen79</a>

• Boston College

  Chestnut Hill, MA Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boson_College_sign.jpg" target="_hplink">Boston Starbucks Rebel</a>

• University of Dallas

  Irving, TX Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:University_of_Dallas_1.jpg" target="_hplink">Wissembourg</a>

• Texas A&M University

  College Station, TX Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:George_Bush_Presidential_Library.jpg" target="_hplink">Jujutacular</a>

• Providence College

  Providence, RI Photo Credit: Providence College on Facebook<a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=372019349517224&set=a.334718986580594.86748.120614711324357&type=3&theater" target="_hplink">Providence College on Facebook</a>

• Southern Methodist University

  Dallas, TX Photo Credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SMU_Library.JPG" target="_hplink">Spencerjc1</a>

Check out the list of the 10 most LGBT-friendly colleges here.

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Comments

[Rachelnight]

53 minutes ago ( 4:47 PM)

I've gone to a strict baptist conservative campus all the duration of my college years. They make you go to therapy if you're bi or gay. So many guest speakers have shunned homosexuality bringing out porn and gay clubs into the argument to make it seem bad. really disturbing :\ Its not like straight clubs and straight porn don't exist. I'm glad I graduating this week it will truly be a feat to be able to leave this place. ive met good people here who think like me but it's very difficult to be yourself for fear of being outed or having people try to "pray" for your homosexulity

[Joshua Nave]

03:49 PM on 09/27/2012

The University Of Rhode Island is number 9....so where is it, since it is in the top ten on the actual Princeton Review site...? Providence College isn't even in the top twenty. Some of us are trying to work on constructive change, so it would be helpful have the accurate information, URI has bullied and removed the most outspoken administrator who advocated in favor of making the University a more LGBT friendly and safe place. We need to get this fixed please help.

[Sonja Dawn]

12:42 AM on 09/23/2012

Lists "in the name of" are always contradictory.

[Transilvanian]

07:39 AM on 07/29/2012

Oh brother...people love their lists. This one goes down on the list of moments I will never get back.

[FranStepford]

05:31 PM on 06/11/2012

I'm a proud LGBT (which one of those I am is not important) I went to Notre Dame and have several friends who went to Boston C. How either of these schools made this list is quite baffling. Let alone how they could be ranked so high on the list. Seems someone was a tad jealous they didnt get accepted to either.

[toujours]

04:43 PM on 06/11/2012

Dang. SMU and Texas A&M made the list? That's a surprise, coming from a student who participated in the Southwest Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls Conferences and considering they're affiliated with the National Association of College and University Residence Halls. The people who go to the conferences are ever so pleasant though.

[Timothy Thomas]

01:58 PM on 06/11/2012

This is a Bad list. I find it hard to believe, as a graduate of Southern Methodist University, which is not a religious school, that we were higher on the list than say Bob Jones or Liberty University. Seriously!

[Robert B Burnside]

03:40 AM on 06/12/2012

I find it hard to believe too. However, University of Dallas and Texas A&M-- are on the list-- SMU? I have had some good friends go there and have never even considered it as anti-gay-- no. there is something not right with this.

[FranStepford]

05:39 PM on 06/12/2012

I'm gay, I went to one of the listed schools and I agree with you (I hope you're not offended). Most of these schools are run by or are affiliated with religious organizations so naturally they get listed right away. But I have to honestly say, in the last 3 weeks I have seen countless LGBT organizations publically spew hatred toward the christian church. However, in my 4 years at Notre Dame (Catholic) I never once saw or was subjected to any anti-gay rhetoric or groups. That being said, there are colleges who discriminate, but the ones Ive seen doing it are po-dunk Bobby Joe places that dont even have 1/1000th of the prestige or education that SMU or ND have.

[Koshesha]

01:27 PM on 06/11/2012

No Liberty University? Hmm

[KenPDXScribe]

10:19 AM on 06/11/2012

I graduated from SMU in 1968. I was openly gay at the time and found friends and faculty to be very supportive. If it has devolved in the last 40 years, that's a shame, but surely, there are schools that are a lot worse. I wonder if this has anything to do with the Bush Library being associated with the school. (I almost returned my diploma over that one!) All of the publicity around that has perhaps painted SMU with a more conservative brush than it deserves. I would like that to be true. I had a great time there.

[Chris Weekley]

09:11 AM on 06/11/2012

Where's Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC? They even hate black people.

[unimatrix0]

08:44 AM on 06/11/2012

How does Shorter University not top the list, given their new policy against homosexuality and divorce, and logical thinking?
I was going to say something like, well then gay and gay friendly people just don't need to go to school or to work at these places, but look at all the gay priests that join the Catholic Church. Some people just find themselves linked to institutions for a variety of reasons. Hard to turn down a full scholarship, and not think, I will just try to advocate for change from the inside. Our some of the students might be like me, and not realize they were gay until they were in college. Until then I basically considered myself asexual, and thought I was superior to my horny friends because I was living up to society's expectations of not wanting sex before marriage. Well that can only be supressed for so long. I think the students and alumni at most of these places are banging their heads against a wall, but if that gives them comfort, god-bless.

[D Stuart]

08:22 PM on 06/10/2012

There have been struggles at Texas A&M, I mean the supreme court ruling ensuring the right to start an LGBT student group at any public university bares the schools name. However, the sentiments of the majority of the university has changed within the last couple of years. I personally have only seen a small, albeit vocal, minority be actively ant-gay. And everyone regards them like the crackpots they are.

[OnlinewithZoe]

06:59 PM on 06/10/2012

I have spoken at two of them - both in Texas - A&M and Southern Methodist. They were nice to me but not so nice to my hosts. I want to speak at all of them! http://onlinewithzoe.typepad.com/2012%20general%20flyer.pdf

[Ron Hovey]

05:33 PM on 06/10/2012

I am always amazed at those who are actively anti-LGBT. They spend so much time and effort on something that affects them in no way at all...unless, of course, they are really struggling with their inner selves. I have NEVER known a well adjusted heterosexual male or female adult having a problem with gay people.

[psycgirl1014]

07:16 AM on 06/11/2012

Well said! I think this same thought quite often, and wonder why these people don't spend their time protesting child prostitution, hunger, etc., instead of someone else's romantic life.

[Ron Hovey]

05:25 PM on 06/10/2012

Gee, other than BC, BYU and ND, are these schools even accredited? Who cares, the great universities of AMerica are mostly LGBT friendly, because that is the rational approach. And isn't that what great universities are about, rationality rather that unsubstantiated discrimination.

[WLane]

07:34 PM on 06/10/2012

Hampton-Sydney is one of the only all male colleges left and is a well known in VA, Texas A&M has a great agriculture program, Province College is well known in the the north east and well regarded, and SMU is a big deal in the south. Just because you haven't heard of the school doesn't mean you should knock them. Most of these schools are excellent institutions. Some have a religious affiliation with anti-gay faiths. Others have outdated policies (eg. Hampton-Sydney). This does not make them bad schools. The education they provide is not what is lacking. The desire to make their campus more LGBT friendly is.

[AggieLish]

10:06 PM on 06/10/2012

Texas A&M is a member of the American Association of Universities, which is a prestigious organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. Schools have to be invited to join, and there are only 59 schools in the U.S. with the honor of being members (other members include Brown, MIT, Texas, UC Berkely, and many others). Texas A&M has an excellent academic reputation and it's Business and Engineering programs are highly ranked in the nation. It also ranks higher than BYU according to rankings from Forbes, Washington Monthly, and US News and Reports. So, in response to your comment about the other schools not being accredited, I feel like you should do more research. That being said, as a student at Texas A&M, I consider myself to be very "LGBT friendly" and really just friendly all around (until someone starts judging the credibility of my university).

[Ron Hovey]

12:36 PM on 06/13/2012

Yes, having been properly trained at college, I do my research and am fully aware that Texas A&M is accredited. At Texas, or any of your other schools did you ever learn (perhaos in a long forgotten English class) hyperbole? My point is that creating a less than accepting atmosphere is counterproductive to being a great learning institution. Sorry that the subtlety of the writing device employed was lost on you.