Poll: LGBTQ students at Christian colleges face more bullying, harm than their straight peers

A new survey of major Christian colleges around the U.S. indicates that bullying and even sexual assault against LGBTQ students occurs at a higher rate than among their straight and cisgender peers.

The survey, from the Religious Exemption Accountability Project (REAP) and CollegePulse, examined responses from 3,000 students at Christian schools with specific rules targeting LGBTQ students in their school policies. The poll found that about 12 percent of students at such colleges identify as gay, lesbian or another sexual preference other than straight. Roughly 2 percent of students identify as non-cisgender.

Eleven percent of students belonging to a sexual minority reported bullying or harassment while at school, compared to just 5 percent of straight students. That number rose as high as 22 percent among students who are not cisgender.

Students who identified as gay, lesbian or another sexual preference reported far higher rates of loneliness, anxiety and depression than did straight students, and they were nearly three times as likely to report being sexually assaulted. Gender minority students reported sexual assaults at even higher rates: 14 percent, versus 2 percent of cisgender straight students.

The REAP-CollegePulse survey was conducted between Jan. 28 and Feb. 6 among undergraduate students enrolled full-time at 134 taxpayer-funded Christian colleges around the U.S. The margin of error for the total population is 1 percentage point, while the margin increases to between 2-5 percentage points for some subgroups.