College recruiters look to gays. “Although they lack statistics showing gay students outperform their peers, admissions officers say anecdotally that, for the growing number of high school students who identify themselves as gay, the ”coming out” experience in high school can breed self-confidence, leadership abilities, cultural awareness, and other characteristics that colleges want.”

It’s about time. Today’s out highschool students are looking for colleges that will meet their needs. At a recent open house, students from our GBLT campus group were baraged with questions from prospective students about the climate for gay students at Truman. However, we’re having difficulty convincing the administration of the need for a GLBT resource center.

It’s important to make students feel like they can be out in the college search process and feel comfortable asking questions. I didn’t come out until I was in undergrad, but I was out during my grad school search and fortunately found a gay-friendly university (if not a department) in Indiana University.