Hopefully I'll be at uni later this year and I was just wondering about what it's like being an LGBTQ+ person at uni. Are there many LGBT groups? And do you experience much homophobia?
A lot of universities are LGBT friendly. I honestly don't know anyone who's faced homophobia (personally in real life for me, not saying it never happens at all) where I'm from. I came out to a straight acquaintance who was nothing but supportive. There was even an openly bisexual male in our group, and no one thought anything when he talked about dating/sleeping with guys.
I'm not in your country, and I guess mine is more conservative overall, but I can give my experience. I'm pretty open about my sexuality at the university, never hid it, and most people I've told directly were ok with it. However, when I firstly arrived, and because this city is small, rumors started to spread, and it has got to my ears that people were referring to me as "the lesbian", and not in a good way. I'm a bit of a tomboy too, and this didn't help. Also my ex-boyfriend here begged me not to tell anyone, especially around the university, because he was ashamed. A girl who was present when I casually came out to a group of friends, started saying to others to "be careful cause she's bi" like it's some contagious disease. As the rumors spread, some girls started avoiding me and thought I was hitting on them when saying "hi". I'm the kind of person who doesn't really care what people say, I don't notice unless they come and tell me straight up something mean. I have friends who accept me, most people are indifferent to my sexuality, I can live with the idiots, unless they become violent, which they don't have the guts to do anyway. My university doesn't have an LGBT group, but it's a small one. Usually bigger universities have. Check them online before you go.
I go to community college, not a university, but it is still college. My area is very liberal, and the LGBT community get's a lot of support.
My university is pretty LGBT friendly, we have anti-discrimination zero tolerance policies at my university and there's a surprisingly large amount of LGBT people at my university despite being in a relatively small town. I haven't heard about anybody being discriminated against at my university but I can't be certain. As for groups, we have basically a GSA but it's just called "Alliance" to help make it feel more inclusive for anybody to join. Besides that, there aren't really any specific LGBT organizations though.
Most universities seem lgbt friendly. A couple people on this site (mostly in the south - no offense) have said they didn't feel safe being out at their college. I go to community college and I think it's pretty accepting. I have seen quite a few people who are out and about. I personally only come out when it comes up in conversation since most people assume I'm straight.
I briefly went to A local four year college in Texas and even tho I wasn't even questioning at the time I thought it was very accepting. There was an active LGBT club on campus too.
Generally, there is almost little to no homophobia or discrimination against the LGBT community on colleges and universities. It seems rare from what I've noticed and learned. No one really has time to pick on others and be a jerk. Everyone is there to get their education. So bullying just looks plain ridiculous and unusual. I think you have to be crazy to bully someone in college. But bullying is never acceptable anywhere.
Most of the time, it's awesome. There are bigots everywhere, but for the most part it's like a safe haven.
