Gay US students want mixed-sex dorm rooms
LGBT students in the US are campaigning for mixed-sex college rooms, saying many of them feel more comfortable living with someone of the opposite gender.
Unlike in the UK, where students usually share flats or houses, American students generally share bedrooms.
“Gender-neutral housing”, as it is known, has already been implemented in 50 other universities across the country, although a campaign in favour of it at George Washington University in Washington has attracted widespread media attention.
The campaign for on-campus mixed accommodation was started by Michael Komo, the president of the LGBT student organisation, who says the university should be more progressive.
He told the Daily Colonial that the policy would be strictly voluntary and must first pass through seven stages of university administration to be implemented.
Some critics, such as the university’s Young American Foundation, have suggested it could encourage pre-marital sex and that parents could object to the idea.
But supporters of gender-neutral housing say that’s already an option for gay roommates and that their proposal is more geared to opposite-sex friends who want to live together.
