Central has been rated five out of five stars for LGBT friendliness by Campus Pride Index, a website launched in 2002 to help colleges improve LGBT education.

Katrina Whitney, a diversity officer within the Center for Diversity and Social Justice, submitted her evaluation of Central’s support of the LGBT community to the Campus Pride Index.

The Index compares how colleges treat their LGBT members.

“I believe Central Washington University is on its way to doing a wonderful job in regards to [the] policy and procedures in place,” Whitney said.

Whitney believes that the Campus Pride Index is a great starting point for improving campus safety.

“We’re well on our way to creating a safe space,” Whitney said.

Although Central is on its way to becoming a safer place for students, it is still not perfect and there are still students everyday who endure challenges in the classroom setting, Whitney said.

“There [are] students every single day that are mis-gendered. There’s students every single day that have to deal with that notion of micro-aggressions within classes; they may be mis-gendered, [they] may use wrong pronouns. They may not feel safe based on their identity,” Whitney said.

Whitney believes that the students within the CDSJ work as hard as they can to make a safe environment for all students.

Central’s friendliness towards members of the LGBT community is a major reason Ashley Reynolds, computer science freshman, chose to attend Central.

Working as the event programmer within the CDSJ, Reynolds sees Ellensburg as a place where the residents do not care if you are different.

“I’m very happy with the people here and the general attitude on campus,” Reynolds said.

According to Whitney, CDSJ’s Safe Space workshops have increased as well.

Safe Space is a program where students can go for anything concerning LGBT and feel accepted.

Last year, CDSJ held a week-long gender neutral bathroom event within the library and the SURC during Pride Week.

“It was a great way to put out there that notion that not everybody embraces a binary [gender], and I think that’s important,” Whitney said.

Elizabeth McCann, junior secondary English education major, is a bisexual and from North Bend who came to Central during winter quarter of 2014.

McCann came out around 13 years old. At the time, people around her told her that she was just confused, that she would figure it out eventually or that she was just a straight girl looking for attention.

“Someone even told me that I was making it up,” McCann said.

Having a mother who is a children’s pastor, McCann spent a lot of time at the church as she grew up.

McCann felt awkward being at the church for a while, but feels more comfortable about going to church now. She has gone to Mercer Creek and to Resonate, and said that she enjoys both of them.

According to McCann, Ellensburg residents are not as friendly as people on campus.

McCann thinks they are not as friendly because some Ellensburg residents are from a generation in which being LGBT was not socially acceptable.

Although she did not experience  much negativity in her hometown of North Bend, McCann finds Central to be friendlier.

For the most part, McCann enjoys her experience here at Central.

“I generally feel accepted here, as a female and as someone who is queer,” McCann said.