Do Y’all Say Gay or Trans? The Impact of Gender and Sexuality on College Students’ Experiences in the Rural South

While national trends indicate improvement in campus climates for LGBTQ+ students, these patterns may not exist on campuses in the Southeast region of the United States, particularly given conservative backlash in the region. Drawing from focus group and survey data, we investigated how students in a rural Southern location perceive campus and community space with regard to safety and support, and how the intersections of gender and sexual orientation affect those perceptions. We found LGBTQ+ students had a mostly positive perception of their campus experience, despite reports of harassment, perceptions of unsafe spaces, and some lack of awareness of resources. However, students rate the climate for queer-spectrum students more positively than that for trans-spectrum students. Cis-gender, heterosexual students were largely accepting of their LGBTQ+ peers and were mostly unaware of LGBTQ+ harassment in spaces on campus. Students’ positive assessments exist despite a lack of systematic, institutional-level programming to integrate them into the campus community but are influenced by the work of faculty and staff allies through classes, curriculum, and programs. Our analyses inform recommendations for policies and initiatives and illuminate unique challenges facing queer students on campuses in conservative, rural areas.