UC Davis

LGBTQ+ individuals face numerous challenges while attending college, including bullying and harassment, a curriculum that does not reflect their identity, and faculty or peers who do not use their correct pronouns or preferred names. Furthermore, LGBTQ+ students often face significant marginalization that leads to some of the highest suicide rates among any student population (Trevor Project, 2020; di Giacomo et al., 2018). This study is framed according to Vincent Tinto’s 1975 Model of Student Integration and 1993 Interactionalist Theory of College Student Departure infused with Rendon’s (1994) Validation Theory to explore more fully why these students persist and succeed given the experiences related to their identities. The 7 participants in this study are a diverse group with many facets in their student identity including: gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity/culture, and experiences associated with their identity. From this study, 5 themes emerged: 1) Importance of Faculty Interactions and Support; 2) Importance of Student Services; 3) Sense of Safety—Policing and Restrooms; 4) Validation by Using Proper Pronouns and Preferred Names, and 5) Supporting Trans Outness. The importance of faculty interactions was explored along the outness continuum. At the core of many of these students’ community college experiences was the concept of validation and a sense of belonging. Validating experiences contributed to a campus climate where the students felt safe and accepted to be open about their LGBTQ+ identity. LGBTQ+ California Community College students experience college differently from their non-LGBTQ+ or heterosexual and gender conforming peers attributable in some part to the heteronormativity that permeates our society.