What earns a campus a spot on a list of the most LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities?
It starts with LGBTQ-friendly policies, programs and practices such as gender-affirming healthcare and non-discrimination statements inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, according to the most recent Campus Pride Index, in which more than 240 colleges and universities now participate.
Colleges and universities also get high marks for supporting LGBTQ+ peer mentorship programs, campus safety trainings on sexual orientation and gender identity, LGBTQ-specific major and course offerings, and the presence of LGBTQ and ally student and faculty organizations.
The Campus Pride Index, which is visited by more than 120,000 prospective students and family members annually, intentionally excluded two states—Florida and Texas—from this year’s list of the most LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities. Laws passed in both states “effectively ban LGBTQ+ inclusive policies, programs and practices on college and university campuses,” says Campus Pride, the nonprofit advocacy organization that publishes the index.
“In today’s climate, which finds LGBTQ+ identities being used as political talking points and laws being weaponized against LGBTQ+ people, the commitment to creating campuses that welcome and protect LGBTQ+ students can not be taken for granted,” said Campus Pride Founder, CEO and Executive Director Shane Mendez Windmeyer. “The colleges and universities that made our list this year deserve this highest recognition for the efforts they have made and continue to make.”
Here are the most LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities
Campus Pride’s 2023 Best of the Best LGBTQ-friendly Colleges and Universities (listed alphabetically by region) are:
Mid-Atlantic
- Adelphi University, Garden City, NY
- Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick, New Brunswick, NJ
- The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
- University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD
- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
- University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Midwest
- Augsburg University, Minneapolis, MN
- Indiana University, Bloomington,
- Kansas State University
- Northern Illinois University,
- Oakland University, Rochester, MI
- Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
- The Ohio State University,
- University of Illinois Chicago
- University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire
- University of Wisconsin–Green Bay
- University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
- Washington University in St. Louis
New England
- Tufts University, Medford, MA
- University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- University of Vermont
South
- Elon University, Elon, NC
- George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
- Guilford College, Greensboro, NC
- Northern Kentucky University
- University of Louisville
West
- San Diego State University
- Southern Oregon University
- University of Colorado at Boulder
