Undergraduate Student Opinions of and University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign’s
Involvement in Homosexual Rights
Bridget Leduc
2010
About the Author: Bridget Leduc is a freshman undergraduate student at The University
of Illinois at Urbana Champaign studying Psychology. She plans on completing a double
major in both Early Childhood Education and Psychology.
Keywords: Homosexual rights, gay rights, student opinions, University of Illinois
Abstract: Are students on UIUC’s campus tolerant of homosexual students? Is equality
offered through University programs to ensure fair treatment of homosexual students?
Douglas A. Burleson conducted research assessing which factors most heavily influence a
homosexual students choice of college. Several factors are outlined, and multiple
explanations are offered for the findings of his research.
This paper analyses data collected from an undergraduate survey sent out via e-mail. This
paper begins with a brief historical review of homosexual rights on UIUC’s campus. Later,
data from the survey is interpreted, and lastly, the data from the survey is compared to
previously conducted research reguaring homosexual tolerance on college campuses. Since
changes in homosexual rights are still taking place, information gathered in this project
could possibly reflect the changing views of young American college students in regards to
this movement. The focus of this research is to uncover the attitudes of UIUC students
towards homosexual rights.
Plan: In the beginning of the semester, I planned to research religious influence on student
opinions of controversial topics. As the semester progressed, I focused my research on
student opinions of and university involvement in the gay rights movement, instead. I
decided that my research would primarily come from student surveys that I handed out. I
attempted to conduct an interview with university staff, and researched the history of my
topic using university archives. I researched a brief history of gay and lesbian
organizations, and protests at the University of Illinois. I also investigated the findings of
my student surveys to get a feeling of student opinions towards homosexual rights. The
information that I found from articles and archives provided me a good base of knowledge
on my topics background and history. I am hoping to find a positive attitude and outlook
towards the homosexual rights movement.
Introduction:
My freshman year has been spent in a conservative private Catholic dormitory. I am
not a Catholic student, and as a result I have been exposed to many new things while living
in this dorm. For example, e-mails encouraging students to protest outside of Planned
Parenthood are sent to all residents on a regular basis. At first, I found these e-mails
shocking. Soon, I began to realize that a majority of the students in this dorm held the same
conservative opinions on many controversial topics.
When we were asked in Rhet. 105 to choose a topic of interest relating to diversity
or ethnicity on campus, religion was the first thing that came to my mind. After considering
the extreme specificity of my first topic choice, I came up with a new, yet related topic. Are
all of the students on campus as conservative as the students living in my dorm? Rather
than making religion the area of interest, I decided to go with homosexual rights.
Homosexual rights are currently a topic of media interest, and homosexuality relates to the
diversity of the student body here at The University of Illinois (UIUC).
After conducting my research as mentioned in the Plan section, I believe that I can
come to a couple of reasonable conclusions.
Body:
With every generation comes a new challenge. As the times change, so do public
opinions, and new social norms are constructed to replace what was once considered
customary. Today, many Americans are being forced to come to grips with homosexuality
and gay rights. Although the movement towards homosexual equality began sometime ago,
significant progress continues to be made. It was my goal, during the course of my
research, to gain an understanding of UIUC’s involvement in and student opinions of the
gay rights movement. By researching a breif history of UIUC, exploring registered student
organizations, and surveying students; I will uncover the true position of UIUC towards the
gay rights movement.
During the 1970s, revolutions in civil rights were taking place across America.
UIUC’s campus was no exception. Homosexual students had grown tired of their
mistreatment, and were ready to make a change. In 1971, the first homosexual student
group, “Gay Liberation” was formed (Student Life and Archival Program). Students who
belonged to this organization worked to “create a more tolerant educational and social
environment on the campus and in the community” (Student Life and Archival Program).
After the formation of “Gay Liberation”, multiple registered student organizations at
UIUC that strive towards equality for homosexual students were formed. For example, the
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center on campus mission’s statement reads:
“Our mission is to foster an environment that is open, safe and inclusive for people of all
sexualities and gender identities” (LGBT website).
In addition to the LGBT, I attempted to find information on alternative housing
options available through UIUC. I sent an e-mail through the housing website indicating
what my research question was, and asking who to contact to ask about alternative housing
options. I was sent an auto reply in return that indicated someone would get back to me in
2-5 business days. I never received an answer. Taking this topic into my own hands, I
scoured the housing website looking for any information I could find on alternative housing
for homosexual students. There was no information readily available. I tried to access the
student-housing contract to see if any questions on the form pertained to sexual
preference, but before seeing the application, credit card information is asked for. The lack
of easily accessible information about alternative housing signifies to me a more
conservative university opinion towards homosexuality. A homosexual student would have
to go out of his or her way in order to obtain information about housing, which is an
inconvenience, and a bit discriminatory, in my opinion.
A large goal of my research was to uncover current student opinions towards the
gay rights movement. In order to gather this information, I created an online survey and emailed it to eighty undergraduate students. The information collected from my survey
ended up being very gender biased. 84% of students who filled out my survey were female,
making only 16% of the recipients male. 85% of the surveyed students were white, 9%
were Hispanic, 5% were Asian American and 1% was African American. 83% of the
surveyed students were ages 18-20, and the remaining percentage ranged from age 21-24.
Attached to this paper is a list of the questions included on my survey, and a breakdown of
the various answers given.
Going into this research project, I suspected that the general attitude of students
towards homosexual issues and rights would be positive. After analyzing the data from my
survey, I concluded that a majority of students in fact do hold favorable opinions towards
homosexual rights. For example, 77% of students either agree of strongly agree that
homosexual couples have the right to be married. Additionally, 72% would vote to legalize
gay marriage, and 89% believe homosexual couples have the right to adopt or have
children. Only 11% of the surveyed students indicated that they always use “gay” as
negative slang in everyday speech.
When comparing the results of religious students versus non-religious students,
only minor differences can be seen. For example, a smaller percentage of the religious
students indicated that they would believe homosexual couples have the right to be
married, or would vote to legalize homosexual marriage. Religious students’ parents were
more opposed to homosexual marriage than the non-religious students. These percentage
differences, however, were very small which leads me to believe that religion is not a
significant factor in determining opinions towards homosexual rights.
Comparing gender differences was not an option for my research because females
so heavily dominated the sample. Other factors I considered were ethnicity, and age.
Surprisingly, no significant differences were found. Minorities tended to be more
conservative in their opinions than the white students, but the amount of minorities polled
was extremely small. Age was not a factor in opinions, either. When comparing the
questions percentage data from each age group, the percentages are nearly identical.
The results of my research lead me to believe that student opinions are very stable
across gender, ethnicity, religious preference, and age. This conclusion may be skewed a bit
because my predominantly white female participants, but I believe that my research
indicates that most students feel the same about homosexual rights.
Douglas A. Burleson conducted a study in 2010 with the intention of researching
what gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GLBTQ) students look for when
choosing a college. His research indicates that GLBTQ place the most importance on quality
of education and the reputation of the school. Surprisingly, a gay-friendly campus and
diversity rank number four and number five on the list of factors affecting college
decisions. Burleson discovered that life experiences and multiple other factors play a large
part in the college decision-making process for each individual GLBTQ student. For
example, if a student was openly gay with friends and family, and had a good social
experience in high school, the student was more likely to look for a college campus with a
gay friendly environment, alternative housing, and various GLBTQ organizations. In
contrast, if the homosexual student were not open with friends and family, the student
would tend to shy away from actively looking for gay friendly campuses. The students who
were still in the closet would not look for alternative housing or homosexual student
organizations in order to keep their sexuality under wraps throughout the college decision
process.
Comparing Burleson’s research with the data I obtained from the survey allows me
to predict how comfortable a homosexual student would be on UIUC’s campus. As
previously stated, several homosexual-friendly registered student organizations are
available on this campus. When looking that the results from my survey one can see that
the LGBTQ resources available to is known by 48% of students. Although the sexuality of
the surveyed students in unknown, I believe that this question reflects the campus-wide
knowledge of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center. The fact that
information on alternative housing is not easily accessible through UIUC’s website leads me
to believe this campus is not against homosexual rights, but not one-hundred percent
accepting or comfortable with homo- or bi- sexual students.
After conducting brief research of UIUC’s involvement in the gay rights movement,
surveying students, and comparing my data to previously conducted research; I feel I have
gained a better understanding of UIUC’s tolerance towards homosexual students. In
general, student opinions of homosexual students are positive. These results match up with
what I originally predicted. I was surprised to find little differences across gender, age,
ethnicity and religious preference. I believe that this university is fairly tolerant when it
comes to homosexuality. The resources available, and the extremely accepting opinions of
students would make this campus a favorable choice for a homosexual student, in my
opinion. In the future, I think families, students and universities across the nation will
become more accepting of homosexual students. Overall I am pleased with the results of
my research and I feel that more information needs to be readily available to homosexual
students at UIUC to ensure fair and equal treatment of homosexual students.
Reflection:
I feel like this research was important for several reasons. I hope to bring find a positive
student outlook towards gay rights, and bring to attention any negative opinions of biases
students may have towards their homosexual fellow students. I think if students are made
aware of unfair treatment on UIUC’s campus, then the student body will actively try to
make UIUC a more welcoming climate for students of all sexual orientations.
Recommendations for Future Research:
After reviewing the results of this study, a couple of significant flaws can be noticed. If
someone were to continue research on this topic, I would highly suggest a more
representative subject pool. The students surveyed should match up with the actual make
up of the student body at UIUC. This would mean more males, older students, and ethnic
students need to be included for future research. Also, the availability of alternative
housing for homosexual students could be investigated further. A personal interview with
someone in charge at housing might be a good way for some questions to be answered. An
interview might help conclude why the application is private, why information is not easily
accessible to homosexual student and what types of housing are available.
Sources:
Burleson, Douglas A. “Sexual Orientation and College Choice.” 2010. American Colelge
Personnel Association and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
No Author, “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center.” 2010.
<http://studentaffairs.illinois.edu/diversity/lgbt/index.html>. 2 Mar. 2010.
No Author. “Gay Rights on Campus.” 2010.
<http://www.library.illinois.edu/archives/slc/researchguides/coldwar/civilrights/gayrig
hts.php>. 2 Mar. 2010.