Earlier this year, a group of gay and lesbian students at Winston-Salem State University, a mid-sized historically Black institution in the conservative Piedmont region of North Carolina, petitioned the school’s administration to add sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policy. The proposal was actually warmly received by many of the college’s faculty, students and administrators, according to Michael Evans, a junior at Winston-Salem State and active member of the school’s Gay Straight Student Alliance

The board of trustees voted to approve the policy and Evans says many of the group’s members feel empowered by it.

“You can actually walk to class and not feel threatened,” said Evans, a 20-year-old junior majoring in molecular biology.  “At Winston-Salem State, you don’t see a lot of gay bashing but you hear a lot of remarks. This protects us from that.”

Winston-Salem State University is among a growing number of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that now include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies.  In the past six years, HBCUs have updated their policies or enacted rules to  broaden the rights of gay and lesbian students and workers. These colleges include schools, such as Howard University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Fisk University.

The changes are a reflection of nation’s growing acceptance of homosexuality in political, social, and even religious circles.  But they have also been sparked by an aggressive effort by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a Washington, D.C.-based gay rights advocacy group, to reach young people on historically Black campuses. The impetus for this plan came more than five years ago after several reports surfaced of violent attacks on students who were perceived to be gay on three historically Black campuses.

The plan had several components, according to the HRC.