Don’t hide who you are. It’s part of your search! Use it to help you find a college that’s a good fit for you as a whole person.

Although many residential universities require that first year students live on campus, some will waive that requirement if you have a special need that would make that living situation impossible. In addition, some, like UMass Amherst, actually have specific LBGT friendly floors in certain dorms, where the straight and not-so-straight students go into the living situation purposefully seeking out such an environment. This would be worth asking about. It would give you a true college experience, plus a group of potential friends right off the bat.

As MM said, Oberlin may be a good college for you to consider. Others that would be worth investigating, on your part, include:

– UMass Amherst

– Hampshire College

– Bucknell

– Cornell

– Emory

– Ithaca

– Oregon State U

– Pomona College

– Princeton

– Syracuse

– Penn State (University Park)

– UCal Berkeley

– UCLA

– U Cal Riverside

– U Illinois, Chicago

– U Illinois, Urbana Champaign

– U Maryland, College Park

– U Michigan, Ann Arbor

– U Penn

– U Oregon

– U Puget Sound

– University of Vermont

– Middlebury, maybe

– Vassar

I’ll give you some good links for resources in your college search, specific to your situation, below.

That said, even the most liberal school is going to be annoyed if they have to deal with your rattled roommate from a tiny town who’s never met anyone like you before, or if you can’t provide an explanation why you want off-campus housing. Be upfront in your application (they’re not going to ask for your birth certificate, but this would be a good use of the optional essay), and look for schools with an active GBLT community and progressive reputation – Oberlin might be a good place to start.

Good luck.