In Conference — B 301, a room in the Martin Luther King Jr. building at Maryland’s Bowie State University, literature is the decor. Books such as “Lesbian/Woman” and the compilation “Black Like Us: A Century of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual African American Fiction” stock bookcases. At every turn there are pamphlets, posters and fliers that virtually all send the same message: If you identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, there is a community on and off campus that loves and accepts you.
This room is the resource center for those Bowie students as well as people who identify as intersex or allies. The modestly furnished center — it has just a handful of chairs and few tables — is also a visual representation of the progress historically black schools have made in embracing LGBTQ youth.
“The reputation is, HBCUs are these very conservative institutions. And there are pockets of progressive advocates on many HBCU campuses,” says Anika Simpson, an associate professor in the department of philosophy and religious studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore and coordinator of the school’s women’s and gender studies program.
[Decide if a historically black college is a good fit.]
Less Inclusive Campus Environments
Many historically black colleges and universities have been slow to adopt policies and approve campus organizations that cater to lesbian, gay, transgender and queer youth, experts say.
Hampton University in Virginia rejected multiple attempts by students to form a support group for gay youth in the early and mid-2000s. Atlanta’s Morehouse College made headlines in 2009 for its strict dress code, which did not allow men to wear clothing that’s typically associated with women.
And the National Black Justice Coalition, an LGBT civil rights organization, asked the federal government to investigate the 2011 death of Florida A&M University student Robert Champion Jr. as a possible anti-gay hate crime after Champion’s death was said to be the result of hazing. Later, the coalition partnered with the Department of Justice to host a forum on hate crime prevention.
Many predominantly white institutions, in contrast, have had student organizations and policies in place since the 1980s and 1990s that encourage students to be out. Dartmouth University in New Hampshire, for example, has an alumni group for LGBT graduates that started in 1984. In 1991, Emory University in Atlanta formed what’s now called the Office of LGBT Life.
A Slow Change in School Culture
In the last few years, however, several historically black schools have created groups for LGBTQ students, held conferences to discuss how to meet their needs and updated curriculums to include the challenges and celebrations that come with being LGBTQ. Prospective students looking for an LGBTQ community and support may now have more options, experts say.
“There’s still a lot of undertone homophobia,” says Everse Pullen, a 21-year-old rising senior at Morgan State. He had a bad experience with a former roommate, he says, who was upset once he realized Pullen was gay.
The two have since reconciled, and Pullen says overall the Morgan State community has embraced him. “Morgan is a safe space,” he says.
Students from Morgan State, including Pullen, were at the center of “My God Too: Black LGBTQ Students Speak Out,” a video campaign produced in collaboration with the black church movement Many Voices. It debuted in May and highlights what life is like to be a member of the LGBTQ community at a historically black institution, and how the history and culture of HBCUs align with black churches.
Even though HBCUs weren’t always known for supporting members of the LGBTQ community, many of today’s college students who are not heterosexual are excited to attend a historically black school.
“I was not nervous as an LGBT student to come to Morgan,” Raven Palmer, a Morgan State student and gay woman, said in an email. Palmer was also featured in “My God Too.”
[Learn which historically black schools have the highest four-year graduation rates.]
“As a freshman, I figured I’d meet my future wife in college. I came into Morgan as confident as possible which certainly attracted a lot of the friends and people I adore today,” she wrote.
The video was well received by students and faculty members, says Simpson; the Morgan State professor was heavily involved with its production.
“There were some faculty who wanted to know how we can use this film the next academic year,” she says.
Hampton University can also celebrate a recent accomplishment: Students got the green light this year to have a campus-recognized group for its LGBTQ members, which was unofficially formed in 2014.
[Find out which historically black schools have the most alumni who give back.]
“We call our organization ‘Mosaic,’ an acronym defined as ‘Motivating Open-minded Social Acceptance and Inspiring Change.’ This group is a safe space for queer Hampton University students and allies to come together, identify with one another, and promote awareness of sexual orientation and gender identity,” Matthew Gates, a member of the group, wrote in an article for the Huffington Post.
Curriculum Catches Up
Classes that discuss lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer leaders within the black community are also important aspects of this campus movement, experts say.
For decades, historically black schools typically did not have classes on LGBTQ culture. In 2013, Morehouse College offered its reportedly first course on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture and politics.
And this fall, Horacio Sierra, an assistant professor of English, will teach a queer cultural studies course at Bowie State University.
“I thought that there was a need for this course because all of the great comprehensive universities in our country have courses similar to this,” he says.
The pilot class in 2015 covered prominent figures within African-American culture, such as the poet Langston Hughes and civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, as well as pop culture figure RuPaul, he says.
In the last decade, the Human Rights Campaign — which advocates for civil rights for the LGBT community — has introduced programs to better support HBCU students and administrators, such as its annual leadership summit.
“So many historically black colleges aren’t familiar with all the specifics of the gay community,” says Leslie Hall, manager of the HBCU project at the Human Rights Campaign. “Some need a refresher, and others just really need a basic education on the spectrum of identities across the community.”
Searching for a college? Get our complete rankings of Best Colleges.
More from U.S. News
HBCU Academic ‘All-Stars’ Separate Fact From Fiction About Campus Life
California Community Colleges Create a Path to HBCUs
For Liberal Arts Colleges, Enrolling Minority Students Still a Challenge
LGBTQ Support Increases at Historically Black Schools originally appeared on usnews.com
