Stanford allows boys and girls to be roommates, earning praise from LGBT students!

Rutgers University announced this month that it will allow boys and girls to room together next year, responding to the September suicide of student Tyler Clementi, who was harassed by his roommate for being gay. Rutgers joins a growing number of universities, including Stanford, which have created gender-neutral housing in an effort to make campuses more inclusive for gay students, Details in Peninsula Press.

Gender-neutral housing, which started in the Northeast, initially for transgendered people, has now expanded to universities across the country, said Danielle Askini, national program manager for the Gay-Straight Alliance Network.

“One of the biggest things that gender-neutral housing offers is a safe space for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender) community,” said Stanford undergraduate Jason Carter, who rooms with a girl.

Stanford piloted a gender-neutral housing option in 2008, and after deciding that it was successful, the university instituted it as a permanent option in 2009. The option arose after gay students expressed social vulnerability living with students of the same gender.