For the first time, an entire system of two-year colleges will give all of its applicants the option to identify if they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ), Inside Higher Ed reported.

More than 500,000 students in all 34 of Washington State Community and Technical College System's schools will be asked optional questions on their registration forms regarding their sexual orientation and gender.

The college system could set an example for other universities and colleges nationwide, said Matthew Shrader, one of five students who came up with the plan in 2011.

"If an entire state system is doing it, then I think it is going to start a movement," said Shrader, who previously attended South Puget Sound Community College and now is a student at the University of Washington.

Individual schools have included such a question on application and registration forms before. In 2011, Elmhurst College, a private institution in Illinois, became the first to include a question about an applicants' sexual orientation. A year later, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology added the question to its undergraduate admissions application.

The University of Iowa became the first public institution to add a question about a student's sexual orientation on an application form in 2012.

The Oregon House approved a bill in May that would require each public university, community college or other higher education institution in the state to include such a question.

According to the bill, the question would have been "on any forms used to collect demographic data that includes gender, race or ethnicity."

Shrader said the main benefit to gathering this type of data among students allows schools to track the academic success, enrollment and retention rates of LGBTQ students. This can help institutions provide support services, resources and activities LGBTQ students.

Some advocates say providing this type of data is similar to race and ethnicity because, sometimes, such characteristics can be invisible. That can lead to LGBTQ students being ignored.

"Colleges might be very surprised to see that they have this population of students and realize that they haven't been doing anything for them," said Jorge Valencia, executive director of the Point Foundation, which provides scholarships to LGBTQ students.

The first new question on Washington Sate's registration forms is: "What is your sexual orientation?" and the choices are bisexual, gay, lesbian, queer, straight/heterosexual and prefer not to answer.

The second question is: "What is your gender identity?" and the choices are feminine, masculine, androgynous, gender neutral, transgender, other and prefer not to answer.

Both questions are optional to answer or not.

Shrader said the most important purpose of the two questions is to make each student feel comfortable by sending the right message to LGBTQ students.

"It sends a message loud and clear to a student: 'My campus actually cares if I am gay or straight or lesbian,'" he said. "It lets a student know that there are services available and administrators that do care."