<p>My friend Carla wants to apply to Yale, but as a friend I am worried that she might be discriminated during the application process. And even accepted, I do not know if Yale would be good for her because she is rather sensitive about her sexuality and can easily be offended. Coming from SF (San Francisco), we’re open and accepting of her sexuality but because me and her have not lived outside of NorCal, we do not know about the attitudes on the east coast, especially the Ivy League region. </p>
<p>I keep convincing her to attend Berkeley but she’s ambitious. Any advice?</p>
<p>We have a visible and accepted gay community. The only gripe I’ve ever heard is that there are too few straight guys around, haha – “one in four, maybe more”. I would absolutely not worry about discrimination, either in the admission process or if/when your friend gets here.</p>
<p>Yale is a very gay-friendly place. There are some people who don’t approve of homosexuality on religious grounds, but they are a very, very small minority.</p>
<p>How the heck does yale know where you are gay, straight or beastality oriented? Just curious. I don’t remember that question in the application.</p>
<p>Yale would be a much better choice than Berkeley. Besides the fact that it has much stronger undergraduate academics across the board, I would say it’s even more “gay friendly” and has a higher % of students who identify themselves that way, across both the undergraduate and graduate school populations. New Haven is also one of the most gay-friendly cities in the United States, with numerous Downtown gay bars/clubs, social groups, huge LGBT celebrations on the town green, and gay-themed parties at various places just about every night of the week (plus the state of CT is one of the only with civil unions, and large employers like Yale do not discriminate against gay couples). The Republican candidate for Mayor in New Haven this past year, as well as many other candidates, are openly gay.</p>
<p>Regarding the application, of course it is not a question on the app and it is not something that any admissions officer would consider, unless there had been some evidence of serious discrimination that she had overcome.</p>
<p>Wow. Based on what you guys said, Yale seems like an open and accepting school - definitely changes my mindset on the school. Though the Ivy League status does seem contradictory to the open-free idea but I guess things are not always what they seem. Well…I guess my friend will have to be going to Yale w/o me. lol</p>
<p>As for Yale’s acceptance of a “terrorist from Afghanistan” let’s not just toss out sound bytes here OK? That just mis-informs. </p>
<p>Yale had admitted a former member of the Taliban diplomatic corps – a twenty year old government spokesman. When the Afghan govt fell, he was stationed overseas. Through some rigors, he got credentials and the backing of several reputable benefactors. He applied and was admitted to a non-degree program offered by Y. My figures may be off a bit-- this is from memory.</p>
<p>There was a lot of stink made of the situation with false charges that the “terrorist” was taking up a slot of another “worthy” undergrad which wasn’t the case.</p>
<p>I don’t think being a lesbian can be made into a hook, so sakinumba don’t get too excited. Yale has no shortage of gay students so it wouldn’t even be a tip. If you’re an unbelievable activist, the lesbian part wouldn’t figure into the equation.</p>
<p>LOL: sorry posterX . I couldn’t reply to you sooner. My copy of People’s Weekly World came in and I wanted to catch up on articles between sessions of picket sign making and tearing strips of red cloth for my comrades’ bandanas.</p>
<p>ideologies die hard T26E4—and it’s a very pathetic fact that the university wont allow a ROTC program on campus…but will a former member of the Taliban!!! “Through some rigors, he got credentials and the backing of several reputable benefactors.”—I would imagine!!! :-l</p>
<p>Yeah, from the first semester, I get the feeling that pretty much anyone who even tried to speak out against gay marriage, gay adoption, or in favor of “don’t ask don’t tell” would be publicly lynched. You have to be a social conservative to be discriminated against here. Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, everything you can think of, it’s all here in force. We had gay coming out day, we have tons of LGBT oriented groups, and this week is Transsexual awareness week. Even half of the Republicans are gay or at least gay-friendly. I even heard the word “intersexual” for the first time the other night. I can’t imagine a more gay-friendly place (although I’m sure San Fran can give it a run for it’s money).</p>
<p>And you are really 20 years behind if you think that the Ivy Leagues is not open. In my contention, they are so obsessed with being politically correct, “diverse”, and friendly towards different sexualities that they let those groups sort of overrun the place, in the sense that they are so scared of offending them that they will do anything to remain in their favor. From the point of view of a conservative, it could be said that we are so open-minded that our brains have fallen out.</p>