During his senior year in high school, Thomas Locke Hobbs '98 says his top priority was earning the kind of grades that could get him into Harvard. When second semester of his senior year came, the student from Los Altos, Calif., finally had the time to come out of the closet.

"Before I had been locked into this academic track," Hobbs says. "When I got into Harvard, I had a lot of time. I smoked pot, lost my virginity and went to my first rock concert all in the same weekend."

Hobbs is one of what students and Harvard officials believe to be a record number of openly gay first-years. In the past, when the Freshman Dean's Office (FDO) held its annual reception for gay, lesbian and bisexual first-years and their roommates, no more than 10 students showed. When the FDO held this year's reception last month, twice as many students turned up.

"There are more freshmen who are openly gay than any year before," says Assistant Dean of Freshmen Michael J. Middleton '87, who is himself openly gay.

"At the first BGLSA meeting there were around 20 first-years, a good three times as many as last year," adds Royce Lin '96, co-chair of the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Student Association (BGLSA).

Lin says the number of out first-years will grow. "Later more people will come as more freshmen come out," he says.

The increase seems related to a larger trend: more students are coming out in high school, or coming to college intending to come out.

But students say that while Harvard is seeing more openly gay first-years, it is still far from the welcoming environment students find at some other Ivy League schools. Brown and Yale, for instance, have more gay activism and vocal student groups, students say.

And Harvard's conservative, pre-professional atmosphere may make openly gay undergraduates uncomfortable, more so than at the other Ivies, students say.

Coming Out

Openly gay students in the Class of 1998 have come out in different ways. Several students have been out for most of high school, some came out the summer after senior year and others have come out only at Harvard.

"The frosh gay community is very diverse," says Michael S. Campbell '98, who is from Andover, Mass., and has been out since high school. "I think we come from several different backgrounds and have had many different experiences coming out not only to our peers but to our families."

Others did not make their decision to come out until they got to Harvard. Daniel Stephens '98 of Oakland, California had come out to only a small number of friends before getting to Harvard, he says. But he came out to his roommates during his second week at Harvard.

"At first I was worried that my being gay would scare people off it they found out I was gay before I told them. Now it's different because I realize that to fit in I need to make my place as much find it," he says. "I got a grip and realized that I'm in college to learn for myself and not for others."

Many students who came out at home found the experience difficult, they say. One out gay first-year requested that his name not be printed for fear of embarrassing his parents.

"If I were to return to my home country I would literally be killed," the student says. "Not only do my parents deny my homosexuality but they fear that anyone else in our community may even question it."