Top Law Schools

Sorry if this is a weird question; it's probably unusual but..

Which law schools tend to be more gay populated/gay friendly. And when i mean gay, i mean part of the LGBT community. Thanks everyone!

Somewhere in Northern California.

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0L here, but my guess would be that any law schools known for being "liberal," coupled with a location in a major metropolitan area, would be gay friendly. The obvious choices appear to be schools in NY, Miami, and LA, and perhaps DC, Seattle, and Minneapolis/St. Paul. I would also speculate that schools on the coasts and/or in the north would tend to be more gay friendly (since the Bible belt and the south are historically anti-gay).

It would seem to be a lot easier to spot schools likely to be antagonistic to the LGBT community (BYU, for example). Anyway, I hope someone more knowledgeable is able to give you a better answer. Good luck!

warandpeace wrote:sorry if this is a weird question; it's probably unusual but..

which law schools tend to be more gay populated/gay friendly. and when i mean gay, i mean part of the LGBT community. thanks you guys(:

I see that you are applying next cycle. Therefore, I wouldn't let attitudes toward LGBTs affect where you APPLY. However, it should definitely be a factor when actually making your decision. Just go about the law school application process the same as you would if this wasn't a factor. Then, once you have your acceptances, you can pay more attention to this, and other factors, when actually deciding where to attend.

FWIW, I think the majority of schools are very welcoming of LGBTs. Law schools are typically very liberal and the population is one that is usually pretty idealistic toward civil rights. Sorry if this post isn't as useful as you had hoped, but I think this is more of a post-acceptance issue, rather than a "deciding where to apply" issue.

Saying it for the 100th time on this site:

Boston University, the gayest law school in America. We're pulling over 10%.

Choosing a supportive school is incredibly important for your future. A supportive school can provide a variety of networking, and career services tailored towards gays. You should also consider the states schools are located in. Odds are you will practice where you go to school, UT may be a great school, but do you want to live in a state with draconian anti-homosexual laws?

Stanford, Harvard, UPenn, NYU and UVA all have excellent LGBT support. I've heard the Columbia, Michigan, and Cornell are somewhat weak.

While most of the schools that have hostile environments are pretty obvious, I'd also suggest avoiding BC. Nothing wrong with the place, but all the gays self-select into BU, leaving the place with 5 or 6 to our 20 or 30 in the 1L class.

BU seems very gay friendly. You can't really go wrong with anything in Cali, Mass, or NY.

As its already been said or alluded to, most law schools are pretty liberal and accepting, there are just a few you should probably stay away from:
Any school with a real and present religious affiliation (BYU, Regent, Liberty, Ave Marie - the last three you should stay away from even if you aren't gay). Many 'religious' schools don't have a religious presence, so it shouldn't be a big deal (Cardozo, Fordham, BC, etc).
Conservative southern schools are probably less gay friendly, however most of the major and good ones still seem pretty liberal and accepting (UF, Vandy).

Cupidity wrote:Stanford, Harvard, UPenn, NYU and UVA all have excellent LGBT support. I've heard the Columbia, Michigan, and Cornell are somewhat weak.

While most of the schools that have hostile environments are pretty obvious, I'd also suggest avoiding BC. Nothing wrong with the place, but all the gays self-select into BU, leaving the place with 5 or 6 to our 20 or 30 in the 1L class.

Everything you have said very credited. However, OP has a 3.2 GPA and no LSAT yet. Mentioning T-14 schools is probably not relevant (no offense OP; motivation to kill the LSAT). Even more of a reason to not worry about this issue so far in advance.

warandpeace wrote:

Oblivion_08 wrote:Somewhere in Northern California.

northern california? ...i'm from california, they are NOT more friendly about that in northern california hahha

i dunno about the far north, but i am pretty sure that you can't get more LGBT-friendly than the San Francisco Bay Area. New York City would probably be a close #2 hub.

Don't go to Pepperdine, they don't take kindly to gays. Santa Clara and Golden Gate will be good options, Chapman is super liberal, that's the same reason why I would never go there.

Good luck though, you need about a 155-158 to get into Chapman and Santa Clara, and a 151-154 for Golden Gate.

Avoid Baylor, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, BC, etc.

Cupidity wrote:While most of the schools that have hostile environments are pretty obvious, I'd also suggest avoiding BC. Nothing wrong with the place, but all the gays self-select into BU, leaving the place with 5 or 6 to our 20 or 30 in the 1L class.

This is untrue. I can think of at least 5 or 6 in my 1L section alone. The Lamda club here is quite active and supportive. I'll grant there are more LBGT students at BU, but there's nothing at BC that would make it uncomfortable or out of place to be a LGBT student.

BC is a Catholic school, but it's a Jesuit school. They're all about inclusiveness.

Fred_McGriff wrote:Avoid Baylor, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, BC, etc.

What are you basing this on?

EDIT: To be fair, I will say that there is one professor here who is fairly outspoken against gay marriage. I will say, though, that he is in a rather marginal minority on that and has been mocked for it by students.

According to the 2010 survey from Campus Pride, here are the 13 most "gay friendly" colleges:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/0 ... on_College

Those with law schools (that I know of) are Berkeley, UCLA, OSU, WUSTL and Syracuse. I'm also confident that NYU is gay friendly, the Li-ann Theo incident notwithstanding.

Lwoods wrote:According to the 2010 survey from Campus Pride, here are the 13 most "gay friendly" colleges:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/0 ... on_College

Those with law schools (that I know of) are Berkeley, UCLA, OSU, WUSTL and Syracuse. I'm also confident that NYU is gay friendly, the Li-ann Theo incident notwithstanding.

Notwithstanding the Dr. Theo incident?

You mean the incident where the student body dug up some video of a potential one-term visiting professor making anti-gay remarks, caused such a huge fiasco they had to have several town halls and public debates among faculty as to whether she should be allowed to come, and then refused to register for her class, such that it was so under-enrolled she cancelled her visit?

If that's not proof of a pro-gay environment, what is?

Cupidity wrote:Stanford, Harvard, UPenn, NYU and UVA all have excellent LGBT support. I've heard the Columbia, Michigan, and Cornell are somewhat weak.

Where do you pull this from - your ass? Didn't you read about Michigan students protesting against Rob Portman? And isn't UVA the WASPiest school in the top 20?

Michigan's OUTLAWS (LGBT group) is the largest and most active group on campus.

cornellbeez wrote:

Cupidity wrote:Stanford, Harvard, UPenn, NYU and UVA all have excellent LGBT support. I've heard the Columbia, Michigan, and Cornell are somewhat weak.

Where do you pull this from - your ass? Didn't you read about Michigan students protesting against Rob Portman? And isn't UVA the WASPiest school in the top 20?

Michigan's OUTLAWS (LGBT group) is the largest and most active group on campus.

I have no actual evidence, but I just really doubt the bolded is true. That said, I'm pretty sure Michigan has a very strong LGBT community, at least from what I've heard.

birdlaw117 wrote:

cornellbeez wrote:

Cupidity wrote:Stanford, Harvard, UPenn, NYU and UVA all have excellent LGBT support. I've heard the Columbia, Michigan, and Cornell are somewhat weak.

Where do you pull this from - your ass? Didn't you read about Michigan students protesting against Rob Portman? And isn't UVA the WASPiest school in the top 20?

Michigan's OUTLAWS (LGBT group) is the largest and most active group on campus.

I have no actual evidence, but I just really doubt the bolded is true. That said, I'm pretty sure Michigan has a very strong LGBT community, at least from what I've heard.

I'm part of OUTLAWS....I believe Outlaws is the largest group on campus, and then Apalsa. Some straight people also join Outlaws.

cornellbeez wrote:

birdlaw117 wrote:

cornellbeez wrote:

Cupidity wrote:Stanford, Harvard, UPenn, NYU and UVA all have excellent LGBT support. I've heard the Columbia, Michigan, and Cornell are somewhat weak.

Where do you pull this from - your ass? Didn't you read about Michigan students protesting against Rob Portman? And isn't UVA the WASPiest school in the top 20?

Michigan's OUTLAWS (LGBT group) is the largest and most active group on campus.

I have no actual evidence, but I just really doubt the bolded is true. That said, I'm pretty sure Michigan has a very strong LGBT community, at least from what I've heard.

Well, I go to Michigan, and I'm part of OUTLAWS....I believe Outlaws is the largest group on campus, and then Apalsa. Some straight people also join Outlaws.

I take it you are only counting "diversity" student organizations? If so, then I believe you.

birdlaw117 wrote: I take it you are only counting "diversity" student organizations? If so, then I believe you.

No. Any law organization excluding journals.

Edit: You are a 0L going to another school? I'm almost graduating....I think I know my school a tiny bit better than you do.

cornellbeez wrote:

birdlaw117 wrote:

cornellbeez wrote:
Well, I go to Michigan, and I'm part of OUTLAWS....I believe Outlaws is the largest group on campus, and then Apalsa. Some straight people also join Outlaws.

I take it you are only counting "diversity" student organizations? If so, then I believe you.

No. Any law organization excluding journals.

Edit: You are a 0L going to another school? I'm almost graduating....I think I know my school a tiny bit better than you do.

Whatever, I don't care enough to argue with you. But thanks for pulling the "I'm a 3L you're a 0L" card. That's always a winner in my book.

birdlaw117 wrote:

cornellbeez wrote:

birdlaw117 wrote:

cornellbeez wrote:
Well, I go to Michigan, and I'm part of OUTLAWS....I believe Outlaws is the largest group on campus, and then Apalsa. Some straight people also join Outlaws.

I take it you are only counting "diversity" student organizations? If so, then I believe you.

No. Any law organization excluding journals.

Edit: You are a 0L going to another school? I'm almost graduating....I think I know my school a tiny bit better than you do.

Whatever, I don't care enough to argue with you. But thanks for pulling the "I'm a 3L you're a 0L" card. That's always a winner in my book.

Oh, jesus christ. Just admit you were wrong and move on. That's always the best thing to do when someone with an actual basis for knowledge tells someone who is just guessing that they are wrong.

Since you insist, I did a quick search and found that it's the Women Law Students Association that is the largest. I really didn't want to continue this because its not relevant at all to OP, but whatever. Can we just end this now?
http://www.law.umich.edu/journalsandorg ... /WLSA.aspx

ITT: TLSers continue to argue over irrelevant peripheral issues.

aliarrow wrote:ITT: TLSers continue to argue over irrelevant peripheral issues.

ITT: TLS'ers PRACTICE LAW