LGBT Students in Luck: Numbers Up for Gay-Friendly Colleges

A recent survey shows a growing number of American colleges and universities are trying to make their campuses as LGBT-friendly as possible.

Campus Pride's 2011 LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index has given 33 schools from around the nation its highest rating this year, nearly double the number of schools from last year.

The Campus Climate Index is an index of nearly 300 schools that, based on their answers to a detailed, voluntary questionnaire, receive ratings from one to five stars from Campus Pride -- a national nonprofit seeking safer higher education environments for LGBT students -- on LGBT-friendly policies, programs, and practices. The questionnaire has eight categories: policy inclusion, support and institutional commitment, academic life, student life, housing, campus safety, counseling and health, and recruitment and retention efforts.

The following colleges and universities scored five-star ratings this year: American University; Amherst College; Carleton College; Dartmouth College; Emory University; Humboldt State University; Indiana University; Ithaca College; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Oberlin College; Ohio State University; Oregon State University; Pennsylvania State University; Princeton University; San Diego State University; Southern Oregon University; Stanford University; Syracuse University; University of California, Berekeley; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Riverside; University of California, Santa Barbara; University of California, Santa Cruz; University of Maine, Farmington; University of Massachusetts, Amherst; University of Michigan; University of Oregon; University of Pennsylvania; University of Southern California; University of Vermont; University of Washington; Washington University in St. Louis; and Whitman College.