Team TEAM CHALLENGE #11 - Gay Justice

July 20, 2009

Dear ***: My 18-year-old son "Bob" is leaving for his freshman year of 
college in August. Bob just received his roommate assignment, and after 
"friending" him on Facebook, Bob discovered that his roomie is gay.

Bob has four older siblings who have made it successfully through college 
and dorm life. They've had roommates who were of different races, different 
cultures and different religions, and have gotten along fine. Bob would 
prefer a straight roommate.

When I called the university to ask if Bob could be assigned another roomie, 
the housing director intimated that I was persecuting the gay roommate and 
that if my son didn't start out rooming with the gay student, then Bob could 
go to another school. He can put in for a room change during the first two 
weeks of school if he wants to switch.

I was taken aback. The university (a Jesuit school) has no policy for 
gay/straight roommates, other than that they don't permit discrimination. 
Bob will room with the assigned roommate.

In doing an informal poll of my older children and their friends, I discovered 
that all but one had a gay roommate and didn't stay roommates for long.

Is it discrimination when a straight man doesn't want to room with a gay man? 
Do you think schools should have a policy about this?

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