For many who choose to attend an HBCU, the decision is about far more than just academics. Since the first HBCUs opened their doors in the years before the Civil War, they have offered black students an opportunity to pursue advanced studies in a space they can be certain will be supportive, welcoming and inclusive. It’s the very least that every student deserves, really—to be able to work, study and learn as part of a community that accepts them as they are.
Historically, the very act of fostering an atmosphere of support for black students has given HBCUs an indispensable role in the fight for civil rights. For many years, the work of providing HBCU students with an opportunity to achieve educational equality with their white peers was itself a political action. The goals of HBCUs have always been bigger than merely rewarding diligence with degrees. Their core missions have included social justice and civil rights, and they have long served as testaments of the right of all Americans to pursue higher learning.
That legacy is now in question. In recent years, as the movement for gay and transgender civil rights has gained traction, HBCUs have shown themselves to be relatively conservative in regard to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. While many majority-white colleges and universities have embraced the call for LGBT inclusion, HBCUs have been notably slow to extend their historical mission of social justice to the success of their LGBT students. Anecdotally and statistically, the majority of HBCUs have failed to create institutional supports that ensure LGBT-friendly campus environments.
According to the Campus Pride Index, of the country’s 106 HBCUs, just 21 percent have active LGBT-specific organizations, and just three include gender identity and expression in their nondiscrimination statements. All students struggle with coming-of-age issues around identity, sexuality and psychosocial development. Black LGBT students are often also coping with homophobia, stigmatization and discrimination based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, all of which can negatively impact their health and mental wellness. As Howard alumna Victoria Diane Kirby points out in The Black Closet: The Need for LGBT Resource and Research Centers on Historically Black Campuses, “Having a negative self-concept plays a major role in youth suicides, in how well one does in school, and in how one interacts with society at large.”
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