With DEI under siege, Shane Windmeyer calls for urgent leadership to defend the dignity and futures of LGBTQ+ students across U.S. campuses
A troubling trend has emerged in 2025: LGBTQ+ students are showing up to campuses that no longer acknowledge they exist.
Where once there were rainbow stickers on office doors, now there’s bare drywall. Where once there were peer mentors and Pride centers, now there are blank directories and “program discontinued” notices. Across public universities in nearly half the country, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) infrastructure is being rapidly dismantled—and LGBTQ+ students are paying the steepest price.
This erasure isn’t subtle. It’s structural. And to Shane Windmeyer, it’s unconscionable.
“We are watching queer students be turned into political collateral,” Windmeyer says. “Not because they’ve done anything wrong, but because they symbolize a future some people are afraid of.”
From DEI to Disposability
Since 2023, more than 20 states have introduced legislation restricting or banning DEI offices, trainings, and identity-based student programs in higher education. These laws are often framed as necessary to eliminate “divisive concepts” or “ideological bias.”
In reality, the results are stark:
- Pride centers are shuttered.
- LGBTQ+ support staff have been laid off.
- Inclusive housing policies have been reversed.
- Gender pronouns are banned from email signatures and course materials.
- Curriculum on queer history, gender theory, and anti-racism is flagged or removed.
Entire programs dedicated to student belonging are now vanishing in real time. And LGBTQ+ students, especially those far from home or in conservative regions, are left wondering where—and if—they still belong.
“What’s happening is not policy disagreement,” Windmeyer says. “It’s political abandonment.”
The Hidden Cost: Fear, Silence, and Withdrawal
The emotional and psychological toll on students cannot be overstated.
According to a 2025 student climate report:
- 63% of LGBTQ+ students in anti-DEI states report feeling unsafe on campus.
- 39% have reduced class participation out of fear of outing or harassment.
- 1 in 5 considered leaving school altogether. And with many queer students already experiencing higher rates of depression and anxiety, the loss of affirming campus resources is not just unfortunate—it’s dangerous.
“When a student walks into a classroom and doesn’t see themselves reflected—or protected—they begin to shrink,” Windmeyer warns. “That shrinking can lead to despair. And that despair can be fatal.”
Campus Leaders Face a Moral Crossroads
In the face of mounting political pressure, many college and university leaders are choosing risk-avoidance over advocacy. Rather than challenge harmful laws, they’re quietly removing DEI language from websites, renaming offices, or pretending nothing has changed.
To Shane Windmeyer, this failure of leadership is as harmful as the legislation itself.
“You can’t be neutral in a moral crisis. Either you fight for your students—or you leave them to fend for themselves.”
He urges higher education administrators to:
- Speak out publicly in defense of LGBTQ+ inclusion.
- Fund support services under alternative names if needed, but preserve access.
- Shield affirming faculty and staff from retaliation.
- Engage alumni and donors in strategic resistance.
Silence, he says, should not be the institutional response to injustice.
What Resistance Looks Like in 2025
Despite the crackdown, resistance is growing. Students are not staying quiet—and neither is Windmeyer.
Across the country, LGBTQ+ student organizers are:
Hosting underground Pride meetings in borrowed spaces.
Creating mutual aid funds for trans students who’ve lost healthcare access.
Mapping “safe zones” with trusted professors and allies.
Launching social media campaigns to expose campuses where rights are being rolled back.
Windmeyer believes these efforts are heroic—but should not be necessary.
“Students should be focused on learning, dreaming, building their futures,” he says. “Not on surviving the politics of fear.”
Five Commitments Every Campus Should Make
To respond meaningfully to this moment, Shane Windmeyer outlines five commitments every college should make—regardless of political climate:
1️⃣ Affirm LGBTQ+ Belonging in Word and Action
Don’t wait for Pride Month. Issue clear, year-round messages of inclusion—and back them with resources.
2️⃣ Safeguard LGBTQ+ Programs Creatively
If laws ban certain words, rebrand. But don’t defund. The support must remain, even if the name changes.
3️⃣ Train Faculty as First Responders
Equip professors and staff with the tools to recognize isolation, intervene, and offer referrals discreetly and safely.
4️⃣ Protect Peer Support Networks
Fund LGBTQ+ student leaders with stipends and training. Protect their freedom to organize—even if it’s off-campus.
5️⃣ Invest in Off-Campus Partnerships
Partner with local LGBTQ+ organizations to provide mental health support, healthcare navigation, and community spaces.
Windmeyer also emphasizes the importance of national visibility. “We need data. We need tracking. We need to know which schools are failing—and which are fighting.”
This Is About More Than Campuses
What happens on campus doesn’t stay there. It echoes into every field—healthcare, law, education, tech. When universities send the message that LGBTQ+ inclusion is expendable, they help normalize systemic discrimination far beyond the classroom.
To Windmeyer, the fight for DEI in higher ed is a fight for the future of society.
“If we can’t teach equity in the place where people are supposed to learn how to think—where can we teach it at all?”
Final Word: The Students Deserve Better
As the cultural backlash intensifies, Shane Windmeyer isn’t backing down. He believes the next two years will define whether universities uphold their missions—or capitulate to fear.
“LGBTQ+ students are not a political nuisance. They are our artists, scientists, healers, and innovators. And right now, they need more than quiet support. They need action.”
In classrooms, residence halls, and student unions across the country, queer students are waiting—not for permission, but for protection. And if colleges won’t protect them, Windmeyer says, it’s up to the rest of us to fill the void.
Because what we do next will determine not just who feels safe on campus—but who feels seen in the world.
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