Girlfriend Raising Money for Lesbian UT Student Who’s Afraid to Return to Dorm

The other day we told you how Kaj Baker, a freshman at the University of Texas in Austin, feels unsafe in her dorm after suffering blatant anti-gay discrimination. Since then, Baker’s story has made national news.

Carlee, Baker’s girlfriend of a year-and-a-half, contacted OutSmart on Thursday to let us know that she has launched a fundraiser to help Baker find new housing and possibly hire an attorney. Carlee asked that her surname be withheld.

The director of Scottish Rite Dormitory (SRD), an off-campus facility, told Baker she could no longer have guests because other residents felt “uncomfortable” with her sexual orientation. The residents complained because Baker and Carlee were studying together in the lounge of the dorm late at night.

“Kaj recorded this half-hour-long meeting, and as admitted by SRD staff, this ban was based on no rule broken in the dorm contract, simply residents’ complaints and homophobia,” Carlee’s fundraiser states. “Her sexual orientation should never have been brought up to her in a meeting with the administration of her dorm, and their words and reasoning were unfair.

“This meeting, and harassing comments from other residents in her dormitory, have made her feel unsafe in her home,” the fundraiser says. “She has been staying with me because of this, only going back to SRD to retrieve her belongings.

“I am making this GoFundMe for my girlfriend because she doesn’t deserve to feel ridiculed or isolated for simply existing and being who she is. Donations will go towards searching for new housing for Kaj and possible legal services. Please help support my amazing girlfriend through this stressful situation. Seeing her feeling this way breaks my heart, as this is not how we imagined our first year at college together would be. Kaj is the sun, and she should be shining right now — not being punished for being who she is.”

To donate, go here.

Watch a report from CBS Austin below.