Thanks to The Advocate (and a bevy of other news-media across the nation) for the coverage of Campus Pride's 19 five-star-rated campuses in our LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index.

Be sure to check out our two releases on the subject:
"Campus Pride Climate Index ranks gay-friendliness of American colleges and universities" Aug. 2
"Campus Pride successful in changing "Alternative Lifestyle" Princeton Review list wording" Aug. 4

From The Advocate:

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See 10+ more headlines from around the nation after the jump...

National LGBT organization still cautions using the Top 20 LGBT-friendly list due to flawed methodology; instead encourages referencing the Princeton Review list with the comprehensive Campus Pride Climate Index ratings available without charge online

(Charlotte, NC) – Campus Pride, a national non-profit working to create safer, more LGBT-inclusive colleges and to build future LGBT and ally leaders, is pleased with the Princeton Review’s decision to change problematic wording in its list title regarding LGBT acceptance and safety on college campuses in the release of “The Best 373 Colleges” (Random House/Princeton Review, $22.99). Despite the change in language, however, Campus Pride continues to caution parents, families and LGBT students on Princeton Review’s rankings, which include no comprehensive review of LGBT campus climates, policies or practices, and urges the use of its far more detailed and free of charge online LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index (www.campusclimateindex.org).

Each year, Princeton Review publishes its lists of the 300-some best colleges in the nation and includes lists of campuses where LGBT students are either most or least accepted. As per the recommendation of Campus Pride, the old lists, titled “Gay Community Accepted” and “Alternative Lifestyle Not An Alternative”, have been changed to “LGBT-Friendly” and “LGBT-Unfriendly.”

The change comes four years after repeated requests by Campus Pride to change the problematic wording. In addition, Campus Pride in partnership with other national organizations also successfully persuaded Princeton Review to change the non-inclusive and outdated wording in the question on LGBT acceptance it asks students. The old question – “Is there very little discrimination against homosexuals?” – was replaced with: “Do students, faculty, and administrators at your college treat all persons equally regardless of their sexual orientations and gender identity/expression?”

“Campus Pride is pleased that the Princeton Review decided to change not only the question it asks students but the title it gives its two lists, although we still have many concerns regarding the company’s approach, overall LGBT knowledge base and commitment to detail,” said Windmeyer, author of “The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students” (Allyson Books, 2006), the first-ever guide profiling the 100 Best LGBT-Friendly Colleges.

Read more after the jump...

Campus Pride Issues Warning regarding the Princeton Review’s Top 20 “Gay Community Accepted” College Ranking

National nonprofit organization states that the educational preparatory company's college ranking is "erroneous & potentially misleading, harmful to LGBT youth & families"

(CHARLOTTE, NC, Thursday, August 13, 2009) -- Campus Pride issues a warning regarding the Top 20 “Gay Community Accepted” and “Alternative Lifestyle Not an Alternative” rankings in the 2010 edition of the Princeton Review’s annual college guide The Best 371 Colleges (Random House/Princeton Review, $22.99). The national nonprofit organization believes that not only is the use of “alternative lifestyle” problematic when referring to the lives of LGBT people, but the methodology Princeton Review used to garner their findings is too simplistic and could potentially lead to harmful, unsafe choices for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) students looking for acceptance and support during college.

The criteria that Princeton Review used to determine the best LGBT “acceptance” at colleges was not based on significant LGBT student opinions or research related to inclusive LGBT policies, programs or practices as one might expect. Their rankings were based off one single question asked to 122,000 students at the 371 top colleges -- whether they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “Students, faculty, and administrators treat all persons equally regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.”