How LGBT-friendly is your veterinary school?

If you're a prospective veterinary student or current student in veterinary school, you may wonder if your school or dream school is LGBT-friendly.  There are many things one may look for in an attempt to address this question, many of which depend on the individual.  Are there campus resources or organizations (a post soon to come!)?  Is there a cohesive LGBT community?  What is the general attitude or atmosphere?  Are students and faculty members comfortable with or informed on LGBT issues, or is the attitude one of "don't ask, don't tell"?

One barometer of acceptance comes from examining a school's 
Non-Discrimination Policy.

This policy basically states what forms of discrimination a school will not accept.  In the United States, schools are, by law, required to prevent discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, disability, and veteran status.  

For the LGBT community, discrimination can come in many forms.  Three pertinent forms are discrimination based on sexual orientation (an individual's preference in terms of sexual or romantic relationship with others), discrimination based on gender identity, and discrimination based on gender expression.  For the unfamiliar, the Ontario Human Rights Commission defines gender identity as:

An individual’s intrinsic sense of self, particularly the sense of being male or female.  Gender identity may or not conform to a person’s birth assigned sex. Personal characteristics that are associated with gender identity include selfimage, physical and biological appearance, expression, behaviour, and conduct, as they relate to gender.  A person's gender identity is different from their sexual orientation.  

Gender expression relates to how an individual expresses their gender identity, e.g. in how they dress or behave.  

The Lesbian and Gay Veterinary Medical Association (LGVMA), has recently discussed more inclusive non-discrimination policies for veterinary schools when they presented at the North American Veterinary Medical Education Consortium (NAVMEC).  They made strong arguments to include "gender identity" as one of the protected groups under veterinary school policy.  We highly encourage you to check out their report here.  

In the following infographic, we have

• Highlighted in green: schools that prohibit discrimination based on all three forms 
• Highlighted in red: those schools that do not explicitly prohibit discrimination of all three forms.  
• Listed Employment Protection based on State (US), Territory (Canada), or Federal (Caribbean) level--this is important especially down the line, since it tells you whether you can be fired from your job just for being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or gender-noncomforming.  
• Green indicates: employment protection for both sexual orientation and gender identity in both private and public employment.  
• Red: States/Territories/Islands that offer zero protection--for several Caribbean islands, homosexuality is even criminalized.  

So without further ado, click on the image below to view the current status of the veterinary schools in North America and the Caribbean.  

* indicates that your employment protection is only applicable if you're employed by the state

^The Canadian Human Rights Law currently prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation but there is legislation pending that would include gender identity and expression.  For more information on this, click here.

The Green!
Currently, Colorado State University, Purdue University, Tufts University, The University of Minnesota, Cornell University, The Ohio State University, Washington State University, and the University of Prince Edward Island have policies which explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.  California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington all prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity for both private and public employees.  

For full access to links and the actual wording of school policies please click here.

For more information on what protections you have in terms of employment, educate yourself on efforts towards passing the Employee Non-Discrimination Act and where your state currently stands.

Do you see any outdated or incorrect information?  Email us at broadspectrumoutreach[at]gmail[dot]com