According to The Princeton Review, two of the 10 worst colleges for gay students include Texas’ Baylor University and Texas A&M University-College Station, but officials at the two schools won’t comment on the rankings because they are based on students’ opinions.

The two schools ranked No. 3 and No. 7 respectively on the list of top 20 “Colleges with Low Acceptance of Gays” included in the recently released 2006 edition of The Princeton Review’s “The Best 361 Colleges.”

“We have no response because these are student rankings,” said Lori Scott Fogleman, director of media relations at Baylor.

There are 62 rankings listed in the Princeton Review report covering 361 schools, with each one identifying the top 20 schools in a specific category.

“We don’t feel it is appropriate to react to such a listing, which merely reflects an editor’s assessment of some unscientifically assembled opinions,” said Sherylon J. Carroll, interim executive director of Texas A&M’s Office of University Relations.

However, Carroll said that officials at the school value diversity and inclusiveness.

A pool of 110,000 students nationwide answered the surveys with an average of a little more than 300 participating at each school. Officials said 90 percent of the surveys were filled out online and the remaining on campus.

‘Not surprised’

Baylor, located in Waco, does not have an official gay student group. Its anti-bias statement does not specifically address sexual orientation, but homosexuality is prohibited, as explained in the private school’s student handbook. Domestic partner benefits are not offered to employees.

Officials at the 14,000-student Baptist school recently pulled about 500 coffee cups from a campus Starbucks because they featured a quote from gay author Armistead Maupin. The quote from the famous author reads in part: “My only regret being gay is that I repressed it for so long.”

Last year, Baylor student Matt Bass was stripped of his seminary scholarship after school officials discovered he was gay. He left Baylor and later enrolled at Emory University in Atlanta.

“I’m not surprised [about the rankings] at all,” said a gay Baylor student, who wished to remain anonymous. “That’s not out of the ordinary for Baylor.”

The student is a member of Baylor Freedom, a group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students. According to group policy, members always conceal their sexual orientation when talking to the press.

Although Texas A&M, which has more than 35,000 students, ranks lower than Baylor on the list, there are still incidents of discrimination reported on campus.

Sharli’e Dominique, a preoperative transsexual displaced by Hurricane Katrina, was arrested and charged with criminal trespass at the Reed Arena shelter for using the women’s shower. Charges against the New Orleans native were later dropped.

“I wasn’t surprised,” said Texas A&M student Christopher Danos of his school’s rank. “Although it is getting better every year.”

Danos, 20, is gay and president of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Aggies, a social group for students. He said he has not personally experience prejudice, but does recall an incident when a gay student was assaulted two years ago because of his sexual orientation. He added that occasionally the officially recognized gay student group would have flyers torn down.

“It’s not a hostile environment unless you’re vocal,” he said. “It’s harder for transgender students to be accepted because some of them look different and that makes people uncomfortable.”

But Danos said he thinks overall Texas A&M is a great school with great people.

“People are recognizing that we do exist and we’re not going to hurt anyone or change them,” he said.

Texas A&M’s anti-bias statement also doesn’t specifically address sexual orientation, but “encourages a climate that values and nurtures collegiality, diversity, pluralism and the uniqueness of the individual within our state, nation and world.” The university does not offer domestic parent benefits to employees.

The school’s Women’s & Gender Equity Resource Center sponsored events for Coming Out Week this month.

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