The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 46, No. 3 - 17

Traditionally Heterogendered Institutions and Campus Housing

LGBTQ+ Housing
Early university housing literature focused on
sexual and gender diversity primarily explored
the experiences of lesbian, gay, or bisexual
(LGB) students (Kortegast, 2017). LGB student
experiences in university housing often contained accounts of bullying and homophobia; challenges coming out to peers, staff,
and family; and limited support for students'
sexual diversity (Evans & Broido, 1999, 2002;
Fanucce & Taub, 2010; Herbst & Malaney,
1999). Herbst and Malaney (1999) and Evans
and Broido (2002) demonstrated the importance of affirming staff support to create more
comfortable environments for LGB students.
Although supportive staff members have
been shown to enhance the climate for LGB
students, their presence has not shifted institutional cultures to those of total affirmation
and respect (Evans & Broido, 2002; Kortegast,
2017). Kortegast's (2017) study of LGBTQ+
student experiences in university housing
continued to show the important role supportive housing staff members play in enhancing LGBTQ+ student experiences. This study
highlights the importance of student-staff relationships and the opportunities affirming
communities provide for LGBTQ+ students,
but also calls on practitioners to more deeply
interrogate their practices to establish equitable spaces that challenge homophobia and
transphobia within housing spaces.
More contemporary literature related to
LGBTQ+ student experiences in college and
university housing explored specific experiences of transgender students, noting rampant
transphobia and lack of institutional policies
to support trans and gender diverse students
in their housing assignments (Dugan, Kusel,

& Simounet, 2012; Nicolazzo & Marine, 2015;
Nicolazzo et al., 2018; Pryor et al., 2016). These
studies illustrated how college and university
housing perpetuates genderist practices by
supporting binary strategies for addressing
trans student housing needs. This illustration was exemplified by practices that placed
trans students in isolation or only allowed
them to be housed in apartment-style facilities (Nicolazzo et al., 2018; Pryor et al., 2016).
With an increase in gender-inclusive housing
practices as a potential remedy to inequitable
housing options for trans students, Marine,
Wagner, and Nicolazzo (2018) interrogated
how inclusive practices may not be fully reaching the students they were meant for. Additionally, gender-inclusive housing practices
often required students to out themselves and
make themselves visible to their residential
community. Although college and university
housing best practices have made promising
shifts toward LGBTQ+ students' comfort and
inclusion (Marine et al., 2019), this literature
base illuminated the challenges imbedded in
campus environments attributed to the conditions perpetuated by the THI.

METHOD
Data for this study are from a secondary analysis of case study data (Yin, 2014) focused on
16 LGBTQ+ students navigating campus and
residential life climates. Participants provided
narratives that reflected on their experiences
navigating campus and residential life climates. Qualitative interview analysis of the
narratives revealed how LGBTQ+ students
navigated living on campus, their engagement
with residential life staff and policies, and their
strategies for creating communities of support.
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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 46, No. 3

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