How LBGTQTA friendly is Pitt?

Will Benham found himself facing public harassment late one night while walking home from a… Will Benham found himself facing public harassment late one night while walking home from a friend’s house in South Oakland.

Jeers from a man in a passing car came as a result of the Pitt junior’s decision to hold his boyfriend’s hand.

“We literally held hands for two seconds, and someone at the stop sign behind us yelled ‘Gay!’ and then, ‘Why are you holding hands?!” Benham said. “This man in the car, though, clearly didn’t look like a Pitt student, so maybe that says something about Pittsburgh in general.”

Pitt is often mentioned among top colleges in terms of academics, athletics and student life, but in the LGBTQ-friendly category, the University falls noticeably short.

Pitt Rainbow Alliance President Tricia Dougherty said it is not surprising that Pitt is overlooked by publications such as Newsweek, the Campus Climate Index and the Princeton Review in released rankings of the nation’s best “gay-friendly” colleges and universities. The lists usually rank the top 20 to 30 schools.

“A faculty member must fill out the Campus Climate Index, and, while several have been approached about it over the years, no one that I know of has ever completed the survey,” Dougherty said. “Pitt is really lagging behind on LGBTQ issues, especially for a school of its size and ranking.”

To the Rainbow Alliance, LGBTQ-friendly means an educated awareness of the issues facing the lesbian-gay-transgendered-queer-and-allied community and the establishment of effective policies to protect the members of the community.

“The needs of only some of the acronym are being met,” Dougherty said. “Pitt could possibly be characterized as gay-friendly, but not all, and it has a long way to go to be friendly to transgendered students.”

In 2008, Pitt added sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression to its nondiscrimination policy. But other University policies, such as the housing policy for transgendered students, remain unchanged.

Dougherty cited the University’s housing policy’s refusal to accommodate transgendered students as a clear conflict that adds to Pitt’s absence among the LGBTQ-friendly rankings of comparable institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania and Penn State, New York and Stanford universities.

These universities receive high rankings on the basis of LGBTQ policy inclusion, support and institutional commitment, a category that looks at university resources dedicated to the group, academic life, student life, housing and residence life, campus safety, counseling and health and targeted LGBTQ student recruitment.

Dougherty said that Pitt isolates transgendered students in single rooms on Lothrop Hall, which she said is one of the most expensive dorms on campus.

“Schools of Pitt’s caliber generally have a policy in place that if it is not gender neutral at least accommodates transgendered students. These schools also typically have an LGBTQ Resource Center with paid staff members to address the needs of students,” she said.

The University of Pennsylvania, Penn State University, New York University and Stanford University all have designated LGBTQ Resource Centers.

While the limitations in policies are apparent, the University has taken steps to ensure a positive environment for students as well.

“From my experience as the Associate Dean of Students and advisor to the Rainbow Alliance, we do what we can to ensure a hospitable campus environment for students of all sexual orientations,” Shawn Brooks, the associate dean of students and director of residence life, said in an email.

He said that University resources for students who feel discriminated against include the Office of Diversity, Affirmative Action and Inclusion that provides aid to students, faculty and staff in addressing any situation. The Office of Cross-Cultural Leadership and Development can also help to advocate for students faced with intolerance.

Workshops that educate and train individuals interested in gaining a better understanding of LGBTQ issues and playing a role in creating an inclusive environment are offered through these resources. The workshops are known as Allies Training.

“We are proactive in communicating to our entire campus community the value of diversity and inclusion, and I believe that our students, faculty and staff have very positive attitudes toward those who are different than they are, whether it is sexual orientation, race, religion or whatever,” Brooks said.

The Rainbow Alliance offers office hours for students and social outlets such as weekly lounge nights on Wednesdays and Thursday night meetings.

Dougherty said that the meetings range in topic but feature social justice trainings, discussions, speakers and the group’s annual drag show fundraiser for the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force.

Brooks and Dougherty agreed that speaking out about intolerance is crucial to making a change.

Director of the University Counseling Center Tevya Zukor said in an email that he has not seen a student seek counseling for harassment or intolerance since coming to Pitt in September.

Dougherty said that her experience advocating to other student organizations has been “overwhelmingly positive,” but that divisions still exist between the LGBTQ community, students and administration.

“It is extremely difficult to make headway on including transgender students in Pitt’s housing policy. It is a challenge getting people to listen,” Dougherty said. “We still have a long way to go in order to be fully supported by the administration.”

Student experiences at Pitt fall on a spectrum, but Dougherty said that transgendered and gender-nonconforming students have a much harder time.

“I have heard of students who were questioned if they were in the correct bathroom,” Dougherty said.

Freshman Alysse Berry said that Pitt has no need to feel overly worried about its lack of ranking.

“Yeah, sure it would be nice to have a higher ranking, but I think we’re realistic,” she said. “Pitt is diverse. We’ll accept you if you’re different, but we might not be the most tolerant out there.”

Benham agreed that, whether or not Pitt is seen as LGBTQ-friendly, one must be realistic when viewing the issue.

“Overall, I feel that Pitt’s campus is gay friendly, but there’s always those assholes in the world,” Benham said.