"We feel there is not a need," Silva says. "There is no A and B just an A and an A. No one is saying they are depriving the partner of something they couldn't get elsewhere."

Silva says the cost of health benefits is one of the biggest factors behind skyrocketing tuition rates, and "nobody wants to talk about expanding health coverage."

"When they say, 'let's expand health benefits,' everyone's antennae go up," he says. "And when they talk about extending to gay and lesbian couples, double antennae go up."

"Expanding benefits doesn't get a sympathetic hearing, not out of prejudice, but out of the question of where to best spend our resources," Silva continues. "And this is not at the top of everyone's list."

Gay and lesbian benefits and recruitment aren't at the top of the Harvard's list either, but student and faculty activists may soon try to change that. Still, most say, it will be a long while before gay and lesbian issues get the same attention paid to Blacks and women.

"We've got a long road," says the Law School's Ratner. "It's going to be a long fight."