San Diego State University has been awarded a 5 out of 5 score for its inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community, according to the Campus Pride Index, “The Campus Pride Index is a vital tool for assisting campuses in learning ways to improve their LGBTQ campus life.”

Psychology sophomore Milo Jared, who uses he and they pronouns, is part of the Pride Center’s “Pride House” as one of its peer mentors. He identifies as biromantic and asexual. Jared said SDSU’s Campus Pride Index rating helped to determine their choice of applying to a university.

“I was looking at a bunch of different colleges… I’d be like, ‘Okay. What’s your rating here?’ And if they had less than a 4.5, I’d be like, ‘nope. We’re done here,’” Jared said. “Knowing the rating was that high was definitely a reassuring factor.

The Campus Pride Index measures SDSU’s inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community with a number of factors. These factors are: policy inclusion, support and institutional support, academic life, student life, housing and residence life, campus safety, counseling and health, as well as recruitment and retention efforts.

LGBTQ+ students have voiced their opinion on the accuracy of SDSU’s Campus Pride Index rating.

Advertising and graphic design senior Maya Tomasik, who uses she and her pronouns, shares her evaluation of SDSU’s Campus Pride Index rating. She identifies as pansexual.

“I wouldn’t say we’re excluded. I wouldn’t say we’re very diverse of a school,” Tomasik said.

About 8 percent of students identify as LGBTQ+, according to the SDSU Newscenter.

Tomasik shares her thoughts on how the university can be more open to the LGBTQ+ community.

“We have a lot of infographics about certain things and we talk about other things like COVID-safety. But, we need to talk about everything as well, like women and sexuality, and consent, and stuff like that. I think that could make things a lot better,” Tomasik said.

Tomasik shares her perspective on SDSU culture regarding campus safety.

“I just think the culture could make things safer too. The SDSU culture, I feel like it’s very heteronormative and very Greek-life based,” she said.

Jared said their experience as a member of the Pride Center has been comforting and allowed him to have a space where he could authentically be himself. He adds that the “Pride House Floor” was a safe place for queer peers where they would not have to deal with things such as homophobia and transphobia.

“I think that the ‘Pride House Floor’ is a great start. I would like to see more inclusivity about that,” they said. “Coming from personal experience as a trans-individual, I was not allowed to pick roommates of a different gender.”

Jared emphasizes that the university should be working to bring awareness about available on-campus LGBTQ+ resources to students.

“I feel like there are a lot of people in the LGBT community who just feel like they’re completely alone. And having those resources and not promoting them feels like betrayal almost to those people,” he said. 

To learn more about SDSU’s Pride Center, please click here.

To read more about SDSU’s Campus Pride Index rating, please click here.