When Jayce Marcus wanted to move into the on-campus dorms at a Quaker-founded college in Oregon earlier this year, he expected to be admitted into the male housing unit. But what Marcus, a transgender male, discovered was that George Fox University had different plans for him.

The Christian school said it was against their “theological” principles to allow Marcus to live with other men. Although some media outlets pointed to Marcus’ medical and legal transition to the male gender, for LGBT advocates this point is irrelevant—if Marcus identifies himself as a male, then he should be treated as such.

“Students deserve to exist in a place where the wholeness of their being is affirmed,” said Samantha Master, youth and campus engagement manager for the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

Although George Fox University ultimately secured a religious exemption for their discrimination of Marcus, most schools aren’t looking for a way out of accommodating the trans community. In fact, many universities across the country have taken great strides recently to change their policies and procedures to welcome transgender students.

“Equitable access, fairness, and inclusion are universal concepts, and I believe that no matter what background you come from, colleges and universities are essentially designed to create spaces where students can learn, faculty can teach, and staff can work in the most supportive spaces possible,” said Master.

Just this week, all-female Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts announced that it is formally accepting transgender students. Although the school never had an official policy against these applicants, some trans female prospectives had run into problems when their legal documentation didn’t match how they actually identify themselves.

Mount Holyoke’s website now includes an informational Admission of Transgender Students page, which states that its application process is open for “any qualified student who is female or identifies as a woman,” meaning anyone who’s not born a male or currently identifying as such. This policy recognizes that trans women are exactly that, women, and that they deserve to have access to everything women do, from ladies’ restrooms to all-female universities, said Master.

The Massachusetts institution is following in the footsteps of California’s Mills College, which earlier this year became the first single-sex school to accept transgender students. Of the 1,000 undergraduates at the school, three to five are trans each year, admissions officers told the San Francisco Chronicle.

“If we get it right in schools...then we have a much better likelihood of raising empowered and whole adults that are upstanders to discrimination and violence rather than bystanders,” said Master.

But we don’t always get it right. In 2013, the prestigious Smith College denied admission (twice) to transgender high school senior Calliope Wong. Wong was turned away because her paperwork didn’t “consistently” identify her as a woman. She was born male, and her financial aid packet demonstrated as much, but her application listed her as she identifies: female.

Wong ended up attending another school, but the flurry of media attention that surrounded her story led to ongoing public discussions about the many faces of discrimination, Master said. This dialogue, coupled with the emergence of high-profile transgender figures such as Laverne Cox, have thrown many of our preconceived notions of femininity out the window.

They’re replaced with questions. “What does it mean to be a woman? Who deserves to be in women’s spaces?” said Master.

But it’s not just the ladies who are taking the lead on LGBT-inclusiveness. There’s been a push for gay and trans acceptance at all types of universities across the country, even in the most unlikely of locations—Texas, for one.

This week, The Advocate named the University of Houston one of the “7 Brave Campuses for LGBT Students in the South.” The school is praised for its “grassroots” activism, full-service LGBT resource center, and a “gender-inclusive restroom policy” that lets students and faculty use the restroom of their choosing.

But these highly progressive policies come in stark contrast to a searing homophobic display just last year and right across town. In 2013 at the University of Houston’s downtown campus, a junior running for student government was the subject of a vicious homophobic smear campaign. Someone posted fliers all over campus with a picture of HIV-positive Kristopher Sharp and the words “Want Aids?” and “Don’t support the Isaac and Kris homosexual agenda.”

As schools continue to take two steps forward and one step back, the key to success is a dialogue between students and faculty, Master said. Universities are “microcosmic communities” where learning and growth are prioritized, she said. As an increasing number of students come out in middle school and high school as transgender or gender nonconforming, they arrive at college with certain expectations of what they need. This can spur dialogue and action at the university level, resulting in schools that are “ahead of the curve” in LGBT rights—even if the surrounding neighborhoods are not.

“I believe that the more we demystify and critically analyze sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, the easier it is for people to understand why inclusivity is essential and how to create more inclusive spaces on campuses,” said Master.