Homosexuality and College Culture: Acceptance vs. Homophobia

It is often thought that large public universities have diverse, eclectic student bodies. Students can’t wait to graduate from high school and get into college where they will be accepted as they are: “one might expect that our college and university communities as ‘ivory towers’ of intellect would be bastions of equality where persecution of individuals based on sexual orientation is nonexistent” (Rhoads 14). However, this is not the case. University administration tries to create an accepting atmosphere for all, but college society is still homophobic and ignorant.

In high school, I was surrounded by people using the phrases “that’s gay” or “you’re a fag” to describe things or people they felt were stupid. Though these phrases didn’t necessarily have malicious anti-gay vibes attached to them, the use of these words, especially among young teenagers, means that complete gay acceptance is a long way away. I thought that in college people would have grown beyond discrimination, but I quickly learned that was not the case. A friend tried to tell me that gay men don’t have the right to hit on straight men, and when gay men do so, straight men have the right to commit hate crimes against gay men. He told me that since many gays are closeted, it proves to the rest of society that homosexuality is wrong, since they are unable to admit their sexual preference. However, Patricia Jung has conducted research showing that one’s gender preference is determined by age four. “One discovers one’s orientation rather than chooses it” (17). It is because of society’s close-mindedness and the fear of harassment that make people afraid to come out. Straight college men who seem to have problems accepting homosexuality may be uncomfortable with it because they are insecure about their own sexual orientation. They may feel they have to vehemently proclaim their heterosexuality so that no one gets the wrong idea. After all, I have heard the opposition to gay rights proclaim, “today’s gay man may have been straight yesterday” (Doyle). My friend told me he was against gay equality because it is an excuse for ugly guys to not be embarrassed when they don’t have a girlfriend. He said that homosexuality is an arbitrary decision made when guys are unsatisfied with their heterosexual love life.

It is people with such strong opinions against homosexuality that make it so difficult for gays to become comfortable with themselves. “Our culture has created a climate of fear for youth with same-sex attractions and many remain closeted until their college years” (Rhoads 66). For gay and straight students alike, college represents freedom from parents, high school cliques, and social stereotypes. College is a time of exploration. Many students who question their sexuality do so for the first time in college, and often choose to come out then because of the presence of other openly gay students they meet. However, coming out is still difficult because of the stigma society has put on being gay. Robert Rhoads questioned a gay college student about his coming out experience, and he said:

Coming out involves taking all the negative things that you’ve heard about yourself, heard about ‘those people,’ and just saying to yourself that none of it matters as much as you do. It means opening up the door and letting out all the internalized hatred, fear, self-doubt, and self-worthlessness. (78)

Life in the closet is often very hard: “Suicidal thoughts are frequent among closeted gays because it’s so difficult to live two lives. Paul Gibson says that gay youth are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than straight youth” (Rhoads 67). Once people are comfortable enough with their sexuality and brave enough to admit it, they often lead happier lives because they are no longer hiding anything and are able to interact openly with others.

With groups such as GLBTA Network, Queer Men, and Queer Student Cultural Center present on many campuses, it would seem that colleges are trying to actively deal with gay rights issues. In 2000, more than 800 LGBT college student groups existed across the nation (Howard xii). That number has surely increased over the past five years as the gay population and gay pride have grown. While a comfortable gay community may exist at many universities, the heterosexual population is still not very accepting. “A conservative aura permeates the culture of the university” (Rhoads 15). Rural nature tends to promote conservatism, and many students who attend large public universities come from local rural areas. They bring with them preconceived notions about homosexuals that are hard to change, no matter what effort is put out to educate students. Unfortunately, sometimes preconceived notions are so strong that violence occurs.

Sexual preference recently surpassed religion as the second reason people have hate crimes performed against them. Many gay students are beaten up because others don’t like their flamboyant mannerisms. One student who received a facial scar from such an attack proudly said “I’m a queen and I’m not ashamed. I wear this scar as a badge of freedom – freedom that no one will ever take away from me” (Rhoads 5). The University of Minnesota claims that it “provides an atmosphere of mutual respect, free from racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice and intolerance” (History and Mission). However, there have been so many hate crimes against gays on campus that University President Bob Bruininks addressed the issue in his State of the University address earlier this year (Gruchow). In 2004, the University of Minnesota’s GLBT Programs Office filed an annual report about the state of homosexuality on campus in regards to discrimination based on sexual orientation: “during fall 2004, the GLBT Programs received four times the number of reports about unwelcoming and harassing behavior on-campus compared to the previous spring. National statistics for the same period reported anti-GLBT hate violence rose 24%” (“2003-04 Annual Report” 2).

In 2002, the University of Minnesota assessed the climate for GLBT students on campus. Statistics from that report show that “there has been a significant decrease (from 78.4% in 1993 to 23% in 2002) in the total number of GLBT self-identified people who report they have experienced discrimination or harassment based on their sexual orientation or gender identification” (“Report” 18). It would seem that great steps have been taken to promote gay rights and educate students about acceptance. Unfortunately, “there has been a slight increase (8.1% in 1993 to 14.2% in 2002) of the respondents who have experienced a threat of physical violence,” and so that while as a whole people may nowadays be more accepting, those with strong views against homosexuality are becoming more passionate and violent against gays (“Report” 18).

It is not just students that are uneducated about homosexuality. Teachers often inadvertently teach classes with a heterocentric bias. “Heterocentrism is the belief that heterosexuality is the normal form of human sexuality. It is the measure by which other sexualities are to be judged” (Jung 15). Especially in history, students may graduate from college with the mistaken assumption that all historical figures are heterosexual. This is known as heterosexual assumption and is one reason many students are ignorant to the fact that homosexuals are everywhere. About 10% of the population is gay, and homosexuality has been found to exist in almost every culture worldwide (Abramson). It is not just students that seem to lack understanding and acceptance. “If their understandings of non-heterosexual student identities do not change, educators’ (well-intentioned) efforts will be as incomplete as their concept of this student population” (Dilley 216).

Recently, politics have influenced students’ opinions on homosexuality. Since freshman year is often the first time many people are able to vote, people get very passionate about politics and their views. “The attitudes of college freshmen . . . have been influenced, at least temporarily, by the dire warnings emanating from last year’s Republican presidential campaign . . .” (Varnell 10). Never before has a gay issue been such a central issue as gay marriage was in the most recent presidential campaign. Banning gay marriage helps further cement the false logic in students’ heads that homosexuality is wrong. Ann M. DeGroot, Executive Director of OutFront Minnesota, the state’s leading public-policy organization serving the GLBT community, says, “It’s disappointing that, once again, legislators are being distracted from the pressing issues our state faces in order to pander to the most extreme and mean-spirited amendment proposed for generations” (Duran 38).

Patrick Dilley summed up the impact of the college environment to gay men:

Post-secondary institutions created environments (both positive and negative), provided structures for socialization and organization, gathered together like-minded peers, and offered the idea (l) of not only the prerogative to determine through college experiences whom one was but also, in time, the right to do so openly and publicly (215)

However, homophobia still lives on in the minds of many college students. Universities can try all they want to provide an accepting community, but until they change the views of many students, campuses as a whole cannot be described as “an atmosphere of mutual respect, free from racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice and intolerance” (History and Mission). There is still a long road ahead before this is achieved.
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