Naked U

I’m a pretty nerdy guy. I’ve always been a bookworm, stuck to myself, and been a bit reserved. When I started college I wanted all of that to change, but knew that I probably wouldn’t push myself and would just spend my four years sticking to myself. And so far for the first two years, that has been the case. I have a couple of friends here and there, but for the most part we’re study buddies. We hang out now and then but that’s really it.

First week of my junior year, things seem pretty normal. There are mixers, some welcome events, orientation, nothing out of the ordinary. I’ve spent the last two years in this same dorm building, but it looked like they were working on some construction on the middle of each floor. They had taken out a couple of room and were building something, I just wasn’t sure what.

The university had overall been leaning towards celebrating more diversity over the past year, with a focus on LGBTQ inclusion. Being an all boys university, there had been hits and misses in the past on gay equality. Over the past year though, gay students were encouraged to find where they belong on campus, and an LGBT studies minor had even been added.

This semester it really seemed like they were trying to celebrate the gay students; rainbow flags on community boards, repeated mentions of lgbtq clubs and other activities, and a promise of “the biggest gay inclusion campaign ever” set to launch soon.

In fact, our dorm even posted a sign asking for the gay students on each floor to be present for a “floor check in” tonight. I’m gay. I’ve been out but again, sticking to myself I never have really gone out of my way to date. I saw the sign and thought to myself, well I’ve got nothing better going on.