Now, if you're too young to think that's progress, give your elders a little respect and take my word. And for those gay and lesbian coeds unfortunate enough to be separated from the tribe, queer life is but a phone call or a bus ride away. In the Pioneer Valley, at least, the skanky gay bars are on the bus route. Better still, there's community and culture outside the bars. So take heart.
College is where people come out in countless, sometimes unimaginable ways.
It's where the robber baron's son gets religion and the prom queen discovers feminist theory. When I was sent packing for school, back in the final quarter of the 20th century, I, too, was looking to reinvent myself. I thought college would make me straight. Now, Colgate University wasn't as vast a gay wasteland as southwestern Ohio. But it wasn't easy being queer, not then, probably not now.