School systems tend to be the perfect pilot ground for civil rights movements, from bridging racial and gender divides. Now it’s time for LGBTQ rights.
Universities and colleges across the nation, such as Dartmouth and the University of California at Berkeley, have allotted gender-neutral housing in which both males and females can share a room. And recently, the University of Arizona announced it might be jumping on the bandwagon.
While the accommodations are open to anyone who may be interested, the goal is to make LGBTQ students comfortable living on a college campus. The desegregation of schools during the Civil Rights Movement (although it was slow going) shed light on the African American community and their similarities, as well as their right to assimilate with the rest of the population. By creating housing for the LGBTQ community, we’re allowing that grouping to thrive amongst their peers, rather than hiding out in fear of discrimination.
Considering the suicide at Rutgers University, these decisions couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. In the month of October, an astounding five gay teens committed suicide in the short span of three weeks, including Tyler Clementi.
In a situation such as this, the positives outweigh the negatives, and extremists on either side will use outrage to publicize their belief that this proposal is the supposed demise of university housing. Contrary to that assumption, this is simply a part of the evolutionary chain that has been measured at universities.
Many dorms went co-ed in the 1970s. It was previously unheard of, but women and men became neighbors, and today this is very common. Not only that, but colleges have also set aside halls and even communities, for special interests such as honors students and particular majors.
Therefore, if colleges are willing to allow one student over another live in a particular dorm because of his or her unique characteristics, why would this differ for a gay or lesbian student who feels that his or her situation is unique?
Social discrimination aside, LGBTQ students pay tuition and deserve the same college experience and consideration. In an attempt to ensure that every student has the most paramount learning experience possible, research shows that students are likely to perform better in their studies if they live in on-campus housing.
Endless amenities prepare for the student’s success including social events, media labs and libraries. Not only that, but students who live on campus their first year are far more likely to live on campus their second year because of the connectivity they feel with their peers and professors. By facilitating to the LGBTQ community, universities are merely trying to meet their need to prosper.
A move in the right direction, the stint that has been given to the gay community is being lifted and thoughtfulness is taking its place. Universities are starting small by giving the plan a test drive. More likely than not, the University of Arizona will only be accepting 22 students into its first LGBTQ wing of the roughly 6,000 students it offers housing to, according to an article by the Arizona Republic.
The slow-going acceptance of the gay community is being seen everywhere, in the potential lifting of “Don’t ask, Don’t Tell” and now in the college sphere. Universities are merely facilitating to a population with special needs to assure that they receive the best education possible; the unnecessary and unprecedented reprieve is being lifted.
Reach Brittany at bemorri1@asu.edu
