An excerpt from CampusCompare Pride Month Blog Series

President Barack Obama has declared June “LGTB Pride Month”, and in honor of that, we’ll be doing a series of blogs on the LGTB experience with the search for college.college search

Okay, sure, you say. But what does “LGTB friendly” really mean? And why is it important?

An LGTB-friendly campus is one whose policies about housing, safety, faculty benefits, health services, clubs, recruitment, and student life are all inclusive of those who are gay, lesbian, transgendered, or bisexual. This can be as basic as including the words gay/lesbian or transgendered in a school’s anti-discrimination policy, or as revolutionary as same-sex bathrooms (gasp!). If you’re wondering what the big deal is, the answer is simple: everybody has the right to a safe and supportive college experience. If you ‘re a LGTB or Ally teen applying to college, then finding a college that’s right for you means finding a campus that supports your rights as a student.

LEARN MORE
http://www.campuscompare.com/college-resources/college-trends/lgtb-pride...

Twitter was abuzz this weekend with a calamity over what an Amazon sales rep called a "glitch," but others are responding might be a general heterosexist misunderstanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender concerns. What happened? Amazon.com recently began removing titles with what they deem "adult content" from their book rankings. This so-caled "adult content" includes, among other things, books featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and even feminist ideologies or images. You can find responses to the dilemma below:
Why Is Amazon Removing The Sales Rankings From Gay, Lesbian Books?
Amazon Says Glitch to Blame for "New" Adult Policy
You say glitch, we say fail!

SAN DIEGO, CA, April 13, 2009 – This Saturday, April 18, Campus Pride hosts its second annual West Coast LGBT-Friendly College Fair at the San Diego LGBT Community Center, 3909 Centre Street in San Diego, CA. Nearly thirty colleges and universities from across the country will be in attendance from 1 p.m.to 4 p.m. to recruit lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally prospective students. Free of charge, any interested students and their families are welcome.

"Finally, colleges are coming out of the closet and being visible in the recruitment process to seek LGBT students,” said Shane Windmeyer, Executive Director of Campus Pride, the leading national nonprofit for LGBT students and campus groups and author of The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students. “Today campuses want to be considered LGBT-friendly. It is not only in the best interest of enrolment figures but also a necessity to prepare for a smaller, more diverse student population in the future.”

According to Windmeyer, an increasing number of colleges and universities are openly recruiting LGBT students and are doing so for the first time ever. Nearly thirty colleges have registered to date for the upcoming LGBT-friendly college fair sponsored by Campus Pride. In addition, over 185 colleges and universities are reaching out to LGBT students through the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index (http://www.campusclimateindex.org). The national index, the only resource of its kind, is a dynamic online tool which rates LGBT-friendliness at colleges and universities as well as sets a national benchmark for campuses to become safer, more welcoming for LGBT and ally people. Any campus may take part in the college fair program or the index at anytime.