Kaj Baker is a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin. She pays $10,000 a year to live in the Scottish Rite Dormitory, a private dorm. But unlike any of the other 300-plus residents, she is no longer allowed to have friends visit her, because she’s gay.
“We’re trying to make sure that everybody, all 315 residents, are comfortable, and sometimes it takes compromise on both sides to do that,” dorm director Mary Mazurek told Baker, who recorded the meeting. In an interview with Texas News Channel (video below) Baker played the audio of the conversation.
Mazurek told Baker, “some people are not comfortable with your sexual orientation.”
“That’s when I realized that it wasn’t about the rules; we were being targeted for being gay,” Baker says.
The “we” includes her girlfriend. The two would study together in public areas of the dorm. Men are not allowed unsupervised at Scottish Rite Dormitory.
“It makes it sound like I don’t belong there in the dorm,” Baker said. “They’re saying, ‘[Your girlfriend] is gay. She doesn’t belong there, so we’re not going to let her in the dorm.’ Well, I’m gay too. Do I not belong there?”
In case there’s any question that this is discrimination, Mazurek made it clear.
“Scottish Rite Dormitory strives to create an environment which allows our residents to focus on completing their higher education goals while meeting our parent’s expectation of creating an atmosphere that fosters the growth and well-being of their daughters while attending the University,” Mazurek said in a statement to the Daily Texan.
OutSmart Magazine reports “Austin has an ordinance prohibiting housing discrimination based on sexual orientation, but it was unclear whether Baker plans to file a complaint.”