HOUSTON — Many LGBT students at the University of Houston say they feel like they can no longer express themselves safely now that a law allowing people to carry concealed weapons on campus is in effect and classes have begun.



“I feel like I can’t speak up for myself anymore," Robyn Foley, 22, a transgender and intersex student who majors in anthropology, told BuzzFeed News. "I can’t correct someone on my pronouns" — Robyn's pronoun is "they" — "I can’t stand up for my transgender friends, because if I do and someone gets pissed off all they have to do is pull out a gun.”



A number of other students eating lunch at the campus LGBTQ Resource Center nodded in agreement.



"School stresses us out enough without us having to worry about the people who already yell at us for being 'sinners,'" added Michael Allen, 29, an arts major with green hair.

On Aug. 1, just before the start of classes at the state school, Senate Bill 11 — known as the campus carry law — went into effect, allowing students at state universities in Texas who have licenses to carry concealed handguns to bring those guns anywhere on campus, with the exception of "exclusion zones."



These zones include the majority of dorms — though some rooms in the dorms are not exclusion zones — as well as some research centers and other buildings containing classrooms, and any religious centers, day care centers, and health centers.

The building containing the LGBT center, as well as the veteran students' center, is not an exclusion zone, which many of the students in the LGBT center didn't realize until someone looked it up during a conversation with BuzzFeed News. The students sat in stunned silence for a moment before Foley said, "Wow, I just assumed it was, out of common sense."

"That's actually really scary," another student, who went by K, added. (K asked not to have their full name included because they haven't yet told their parents about their gender identity.)

Guns must remain concealed at all times, but Allen told BuzzFeed News he had already seen a man with a gun visible on his belt in the parking lot.

Some students said that the fact that the guns can't be seen makes it even more intimidating. "Anyone you get into a philosophical argument with in class might have his hand on his gun while you're talking," one student, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, told BuzzFeed News. "I already feel it affecting my education."