Danny chose their college carefully: the New College of Florida, the progressive public liberal-arts school on the picturesque Gulf of Mexico in Sarasota, Florida. Their first year at the New College was everything they imagined it would be. They made friends and immersed themselves into the campus community, invigorated by the rigorous academic standards and LGBTQ-friendly atmosphere. But as freshman year drew to a close, Danny, 18, found themselves making a decision they never could’ve imagined –they were transferring away from the progressive New College and the new life they’d built.
The choice was prompted by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s change to the College Board of Trustees, with the Governor declaring the move part of his “war on woke”. As part of what is seen by many students and professors as a takeover, the Board was overhauled and a Republican politician was installed in place of the college president. State lawmakers pumped $34 million into the school to help with DeSantis’s vision. In 2023, a record-breaking number of anti-LGBTQ laws targeting queer people have been proposed, advanced, and adopted, according to the Human Rights Campaign. The American Civil Liberties Union has so far tracked 491 anti-LGBTQ laws across the country this legislative session, spanning from bans on gender-affirming care to censorship of drag shows to weakening nondiscrimination laws. And as young queer people make one of the most consequential decision of their lives so far – where to go to college – it is with a different mindset. Alongside the more quotidian worries of high school students leaving home (is this school too big? Too small? Will I make friends? Who will be my roommate?) are starker, more pressing anxieties. Is this school in a state that is attacking my queer identity? Can I be ‘out’ there? And underneath every other question, the central one: will I be safe?
Danny is a humanities student on the pre-med track and worries that the courses that would normally make up their studies at the New College will be eliminated or changed beyond recognition. The fear is not without foundation: the New York Times reported DeSantis has previously “banned instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation through high school, limited what schools can teach about racism, rejected math textbooks and prohibited an Advanced Placement course in African American studies for high school students.” DeSantis’s chief of staff has said the administration hopes to remake the college in the image of Hillsdale College, a private Christian college touted by conservatives as an institution committed to conservative ideology. ”It really flipped my world upside down,” they said. “I had envisioned and planned my life around staying at New College and in Sarasota for the next three years.”
Danny’s mother was the first person to suggest transferring once the school started changing to fit the conservatives view of what a college should be. And Danny is not the only one. “A lot of people I'm friends with are transferring too,” they said. “It became a common question to ask people in passing whether or not they’re transferring and even suggesting other good schools if people were interested.” Danny is leaving behind the prized affordability of the New College for a private school, where they estimate they’ll have to pay $66,000 more for the cost of their education, not including room and board, which was covered in their New College scholarship.
Teddy, 17, imagines a future as an artist. They’ve been eyeing Arizona State University, which has a nationally renowned ceramics program. But now only a year away from packing their childhood bedroom and heading off to college, another factor has entered the equation of where to go to college: how stringent are the anti-LGBTQIA laws in Arizona? Though the state currently has two Democratic senators and a Democratic governor, it was long known as a conservative stronghold, home to storied Republican politicians like Barry Goldwater and John McCain, before turning purple. Currently, Republicans control both chambers of the State legislature and send anti-LGBTQ laws targeting drag queens and preferred pronouns to Gov. Katie Hobbs’s desk with regularity, though Hobbs vetoes them and recently signed two executive orders banning conversion therapy and allowing gender-affirming healthcare to be covered under state insurance plans. While Gov. Hobbes is advancing LGBTQ+ rights, the Human Rights Committee reports that there are no statewide laws that specifically protect sexual orientation and gender identity in education.
Teddy, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, identifies as queer and has for about three years. They haven’t officially crossed ASU off their list of possible schools but it’s starting to feel like a long shot to even consider. Now, they think maybe they’ll stay in Los Angeles or head to New York, opting for a safety that feels more likely to be found in big, diverse, coastal cities although they know a metropolis is not a guarantee. “I also try and realize nowhere I go is going to be perfect,” they said. “Even in LA. There’s still a ton of people who aren’t very supportive.” They worry that the elusive perfect school will be located in a state they don’t feel comfortable living in, one whose legislative bodies are attacking trans and queer people.
Jack Petocz, who has made a name for himself in Florida fighting the legislation queer advocates and allies call Don’t Say Gay, just graduated high school. He worked hard and was offered a full scholarship to University of Florida and considerable scholarships to the University of Central Florida and Florida State University. But in May, DeSantis signed three bills into law which the Tampa Bay Times reported would “bring major change to Florida universities.” SB 266, for example, restricts which topics can be taught in general education courses, including theories regarding racism, sexism, and economic inequities.
“DeSantis has just launched this crazy war on our public university system,” Petocz, who has lived in Florida since he was one year old, said. “A lot of the programs that I would be interested in taking in college centering around [the] LGBTQ [community] and gender ideology. My personal major of choice, political science, has been under attack [too].”
Petocz made the difficult decision to turn away from the generous scholarships and toward his out-of-state choice: Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. (“Fortunately, Nashville is very accepting. It’s a blue blip in a very red state.”) With this choice, he leaves his family behind in Florida and will incur more debt than if he went to a Florida school, as his Vanderbilt scholarship is less financially helpful. And his plans for post-college revolve around his home state. “The second I get that degree from Vanderbilt and depending if I go to law school, I will be returning and working in politics and working to better the lives of Floridians every single day.”
In 2023, choosing the right college is not just about parsing through options to find the right fit when it comes to class size, campus life, or tuition costs – it’s about safety. And in prioritizing safety, students are left to question if they’re losing out on that magical school that would have been the right fit. “What if I was straight and there was a perfect school?” Teddy wondered. “Thinking about the possibilities is something that will really gets me down.”
Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws Are Being Blocked in Federal Courts Across the Country
