FSU Quietly Backtracks Decision to Cut LGBTQ Housing Program Amid Student Outcry

By Logan Michael

Emile Paz, an LGBTQ student studying social psychology at Florida State University, spent their fall 2024 semester dorming with several homophobic roommates, despite opting into the University’s LGBTQ housing program.

Because all housing placements are made at the discretion of the university according to factors like availability, Paz’s selection wasn’t honored.

Looking forward to a second chance at a more comfortable living environment, Paz, and many other Tallahassee students, opened their housing contracts for the 2025-26 academic year, eagerly looking forward to another chance at living with other members of the LGBTQ community.

The option, although present in contracts of years past, was gone.

“I’m not able to move in with my friends whom I’ve known for over a year now because they don’t allow co-ed dorms,” says Paz. The only way to bypass this rule was the LGBTQ+ housing option, which has now been removed from the housing contracts.

Despite the gravity of such a policy, the University made no formal comment, hinting at what many students believe to be a new, more sinister outlook on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) in post-secondary education.

“You’re not allowed to room with whoever you want, you’re not allowed to room with other queer people, you’re not allowed to have solidarity, and it’s bad for everybody. Very constricting housing policy considering how much they’re continuing to upcharge for it,” Paz said.

LGBTQ housing was first introduced at FSU in 2021 with mostly positive feedback. While moderate news publications like the Tallahassee democrat portrayed the policy as merely an accommodation of preference, some experts might disagree.

According to a press release by the Williams Institute—a research center focusing on the cross section between sexual orientation, gender identity, and public policy, transgender individuals are over 4 times more likely to experience violent crimes like aggravated assault and rape when compared to their cisgender peers.

Considering the disproportionate violence queer people face for their identities, student advocates at FSU were outraged by what they considered to be a negligent, unspoken, and dangerous policy decision.  

Feb 10, the Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society, an on-campus progressive advocacy group, posted their plans to hold a demonstration demanding the university reverse its decision. 9 days later, the University restored the program, 3 days before the planned protest.

Nick Fernandez-Greene, executive director of Florida State’s Pride Student Union—the student organization serving as a liaison between the campus’ queer community and the university administration, shared that he’s currently “trying to meet with higher ups to understand what changed within the week,” referring to the University’s continued silence amid its flippant decision making.

“I know that a lot of people [were] impacted, which is why this is such a concern,” said Fernandez-Greene.

The targeting of programs supporting queer students is anything but a new phenomenon for the sunshine state. Back in May of 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis passed legislation banning public colleges and universities from spending money on DEI initiatives.

The governor has also used his bureaucratic oversight over the Florida Department of Education in order to completely overhaul the administrations of the New College of Florida and the University of West Florida, replacing much of their administrations with his political allies, and slashing various “woke” degree programs.

Feb 14, the Trump administration informed colleges and universities that they would lose federal funding if they don’t cut DEI initiatives for purposes of admissions within 2 weeks. While FSU’s housing program may be independent of this decree, it’s hard to guess how long that will last given the political trajectory of the white house.

JJ Glueck, communications co-chair of the Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society, argues that the University only restored the housing program because they “saw a unified resistance against the rollback. A range of organizations stood up for queer students (including queer students themselves) and FSU cowered in the face of people’s power.”