Anthony Castro, 19, worries participating in Pride Student Union and LGBT Affairs could hurt his chances of getting a job after graduation.
The anthropology sophomore said he was concerned by the results of a Harvard study, released earlier this month, that suggest openly gay men face increased job discrimination.
The study showed that job applicants who listed experience in a gay college organization were 40 percent less likely to secure a job interview than those who didn't.
"It's ignorant that employers assume only gay people participate in these organizations," Castro said. "But if putting my experience will hurt my chances of being hired, then my work becomes irrelevant."
Harvard researcher Andras Tilcsik sent out pairs of counterfeit resumes to more than 1,700 job postings in California, Florida, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas, according to American Journal of Sociology's website.
The resume with a reference to the applicant's sexuality had a 7.2 percent chance of receiving an interview. The other resume had an 11.5 percent chance.
The research also found that gay applicants were least likely to receive an interview when the job posting called for someone "assertive" and "aggressive."
Terry Fleming, co-president of the Pride Community Center of North Central Florida, said discrimination in the workplace is unfortunate but real.
Fleming said he was not surprised by the results of the study, which showed employers in the Southern and Midwestern states were more likely to make interview decisions based on sexuality than those in other states.
"It's not unusual to see this type of underlined discrimination in today's society," he said.
