Beginning in spring 2012 students at San Diego State University will have the opportunity to major in homosexuality, essentially.
According to a piece at KSWB-TV:
San Diego State University is the first campus in California to offer an undergraduate degree in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies, school officials announced Monday.
“We really are the first CSU, the first college in California, the first one on the West Coast and the second in the nation to offer this major,” said Esther Rothblum, professor of women’s studies and the LGBT studies academic advisor.
LGBT studies has been a minor at SDSU since 2009. The new course of study will be really useful, the school promises. According to the SDSU:
“Students are realizing that having a minor or major in LGBT studies is a huge asset in getting them into medical school, law school or even the corporate sector,” Rothblum said. “It really shows that they have a level of expertise that a lot of places want. Most places really like it if their employees have an understanding of diversity.”
This is an interesting and perhaps valuable course of study but calling it practical is a little odd. Various institutions surely value “an understanding of diversity” but since currently only one other college in America (Hobart and William Smith in Geneva, New York) offers the subject as a major, it’s hard to determine whether such a course of study really helps much on applications for graduate school or lucrative corporate jobs.
