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Campus Pride, a Charlotte-based nonprofit that helps create safer college environments for LGBT students, included the College of Charleston in its list of “Brave Campuses for LGBT Students in the South.” The collection was posted by The Advocate, the country’s oldest and largest LGBT publication.
Campus Pride’s list highlights schools that are “not just good colleges, but ‘brave spaces’ where LGBT young adults have stood up against the politics of bigotry and pushed forward, driving grassroots progress.”
CofC was mainly included due to the response of students, faculty, staff, and community members to the Fun Home controversy. The inclusion of Alison Bechdel’s book, which deals with the author coming out as a lesbian, in the college’s “Campus Reads!” Program led to Republican state representative Garry Smith supporting a bill to cut $52,000 from the school’s budget. In response, many students, faculty, staff, and community members staged nonviolent protests, while CofC scheduled a musical adaptation of the book to be performed for the community.
The college was also praised for:
- its Gay-Straight Alliance hosting of the second annual Second Chance Prom
- the establishment of a board to create a new Gender and Sexuality Equity Center
- the implementation of a Safe Zone program
- providing Safe Zone training to the staffs at MUSC and the Citadel
- its students hosting the first-ever Spring Lavender Celebration, which honors LGBTQ and ally graduates
You can see Campus Pride’s entire list here.
