But they say harassment is common. "They stare. They threaten. They comment," Franklin says.
Most situations are harmless, they say. One evening this term they say they were on Old Campus--where freshmen live--and kissed each other goodbye, prompting stares and gasps among a group of freshmen.
Said Chinn to the gawking freshmen: "It's really okay. We're only dykes."
"People feel like we're public property and they have the right to say anything," says Franklin. And occasionally, they say, the harassment takes violent forms, like the time a group of men surrounded Chinn on the street, shouting and blocking her way.
Although they live off-campus, Chinn and Franklin say they feel a part of the Yale undergraduate social scene, attending campus parties and having a mixed group of friends.
At the end of the two-hour brunch, the gray clouds have not lifted. Smiling, Franklin and Chinn walk down the street toward the shopping mall, arm in arm, and then, hand in hand.