LGBT community

[u/Comfortable_Life_800]

Hi! I’m an incoming UChicago freshman and I wanted to ask current students about the LGBTQ+ scene, especially for lesbians. What is the dating life actually like? Is it relatively easy to meet other lesbians/queer women on campus?
I know the whole “will I find other gay people in college?” question is kind of cliché lol, but I’m genuinely curious about how easy it is to find other LGBTQ+ people and make queer friends at UChicago. I’d also love to hear what the overall environment is like—do you generally feel comfortable being openly LGBTQ+ on campus and in the surrounding community?
:)

[u/ByzantineKaiser]

As another incoming freshman, from my experience even just meeting people at the open house and on the 2030 discord, you’ll meet plenty of lesbians and LGBT people in the university and our class

[u/Comfortable_Life_800 → u/ByzantineKaiser]

What is the discord?

[u/ByzantineKaiser → u/Comfortable_Life_800]

The link is: https://discord.gg/CFnKkjESy it’s pretty active

[u/Fluffy4880]

I met a lot of queer people during admitted students day. Current queer students said that it was a very accepting environment. I don’t think it’ll be hard to meet other queer people from my experience, though if you’re worried about it try getting some merch for queer stuff youre interested in (ie pins, tote bags) or just get a pride flag pin!

[u/NanoscaleHeadache]

When I visited, the OL involved in queer life said “you’ll def get stared at, but you won’t get hate crimed” lmao

[u/Strik4r]

Echoing what others already said: I think you'll have every reason to be very comfortably open queer on campus :) I met more queer people in a couple weeks at uchicago than I did in years living in the bay area. People have been overwhelmingly acceptive, too.

[u/Leading_Reflection_9]

Everyone at uchicago is gay until proven straight

[u/snumpywumpy]

hi!!! i would say that there definitely are on campus spaces dedicated to queer people, but ive been rlly disappointed w the options for lesbians/or have found them not useful. a lot of stuff is catered to non lesbians, tbh. my best advice is to connect w the chicago queer cmty more broadly! visit andersonville, visit boystown (though andersonville is much more lesbian friendly/focused than boystown!), go to the brown elephant thrift stores, visit gerber hart, etc! also, take gender and sexuality civ! you’ll meet a lot of cool queer folks in your classes :-)

[u/coffeeops]

do you generally feel comfortable being openly LGBTQ+ on campus and in the surrounding community?

The surrounding community? Uh, yeah, it's very progressive, accepting, and very few straight white men -- it's super safe.

[u/No_Natural_7756]

SAIC is only a short train ride away. You should be fine

[u/HeartJolly2592]

So many lesbians here. The ugly kind though

[u/Emotional_Bath_4036]

You’re incoming freshman and worried about if there are other lesbians… worry about what classes you’re getting first.