At Montclair State University, the LGBTQ Center holds a Pride Awards Ceremony every spring semester, recognizing individuals for their contributions to the community on campus.

At Princeton University, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center, created in 2005, works to create a safe and supportive academic environment for students. Its website includes a list of gender-inclusive bathrooms on the venerable campus.

At Rutgers, the Center for Social Justice Education and LGBT Communities offers a weekly guide to social-justice programs across campuses and in neighboring communities. Six LGBTQ organizations include Queer and Asian, and Out in Science, Technology, Engineering (oSTEM).

For the last decade, the national nonprofit organization Campus Pride has offered up a list of the top 25 LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities in the country.

New Jersey leads the nation this year with three of its institutions making the list, more than any other state. The same made the list in 2016.

"In the current political climate, where executive orders by the president of the United States are rescinding decades of progressive work, this work on college campuses is more important than ever," said Dr. Sue Rankin, volunteer director of Campus Pride's Q Research for Higher Education.

Campus Pride, a volunteer-driven network, partners with students, faculty, staff and administrators of more than 1,400 campuses - public and private -- to support and improve the quality of life for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (or queer) communities.

In order to make the Top 25 List, institutions have to score well in a number of metrics, including policies, programs and practices.

Sixteen states are represented in the highest rankings this year, including some that Campus Pride describes as "more conservative," such as North Carolina, Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky.

New Jersey of late has taken laudable steps to provide civil rights to the LGBTQ community, as the statewide blog Blue Jersey pointed out in a comprehensive overview last month.

Among other advances, the site applauded recent laws barring health insurers and health-care providers from discriminating in their coverage or services based on gender identity, and mandating guidance from the state commissioner of education to ensure the safety of transgender students.

Other legislation provides lesbians and others access to insurance coverage for fertility treatments if they work for state government or public schools.

These advances come as the White House is doing its level best to erase landmark progress made under previous administrations, most notably by issuing an executive order banning transgender troops from serving in the U.S. military.

New Jersey residents have every right to share a sense of accomplishment that we're showing the way in terms of human rights, as evidenced by the programs at Montclair, Princeton and Rutgers.

But that doesn't mean we can be complacent. Far from it, as recent events show so compellingly.

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