Negotiating Race and Sexual Orientation in the College Choice Process of Black Gay Males Dian D. Squire • Steve D. Mobley Jr. Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Abstract This study explores the college choice process for Black gay males and what factors played significant roles in why they chose to attend either HBCUs or PWIs. Findings revealed that these students considered race and sexual orientation in different ways when deciding to attend either an HBCU or PWI. Implications for high school counselors and university administrators in understanding and sup- porting the college choice process of Black gay men are suggested. Keywords College choice Á Gay Á Black Á HBCU Introduction Within the American societal context and many higher education environments Black 1 gay men live ‘‘invisible lives’’ (Boykin 1996; D’Augelli 1994; Strayhorn et al. 2008); their voices and experiences are silenced. While there is an emerging discourse highlighting the experiences of Black gay students at both Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Predominately White institutions (PWIs) (Goode-Cross and Good 2009; Harper and Gasman 2008; Harris 2010; Patton 2011; Strayhorn 2010), and an array of scholarship underscoring the college choice process for African American students generally (Bergerson 2009; Freeman 1999; Freeman and Thomas 2002; Hurtado et al. 1997; Perna and Titus 2005; D. D. Squire (&) Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA e-mail: dsquire@luc.edu S. D. Mobley Jr. University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD, USA 1 ‘‘Black’’ and ‘‘African American’’ are used interchangeably throughout this manuscript. 123 Urban Rev DOI 10.1007/s11256-014-0316-3