Stephanie Thomas was such a fervently religious child that she proselytized for her church as a junior high school student in Palos Verdes. She continued her efforts during high school and converted her own mother and sisters to the "born-again" Christian faith she had chosen.

But during her first semester at a Christian college, Azusa Pacific University, Thomas found herself attracted to a young woman in her freshman class.

"We freaked out," Thomas says of the day they realized their friendship was more than intellectual.

"We said, 'Never again,' because it's wrong in God's eyes. . . . We dated men and promised each other that if we could find a man we'd stay with him because we wanted to be accepted by society and by our families, and we wanted an easier life than the one we'd have" as lesbians.

For a year Thomas was counseled by a "born-again" group therapist at the university. "She was terrific, but she couldn't help me figure out why I was the way I was."

Thomas says she finally realized she could not change her sexual identity--so she "denounced" her religion and changed her school.

Now 22 and a senior at UCLA, she is co-president of the 2-year-old, 25-member lesbian sorority, Lambda Delta Lambda, which has new sister chapters at San Francisco State University and UC San Diego.

Thomas has access to weekly lesbian rap groups on campus and a psychotherapy group led by a lesbian for lesbians, initiated last month by the school's Student Psychological Services department. She can enroll in such classes as "Psychology of the Lesbian Experience," "Architecture and Urban Planning for Gay and Lesbian Communities" and lesbian literature.

Thomas feels "comfortable" at UCLA.

She is not alone. More and more lesbians attending colleges and universities nationwide are acknowledging their sexual identity. Their increasingly high profile has led to more lesbian student organizations and counseling activities, and more awareness of their presence on campus.

Even some religious schools are part of the trend. Last month, officials at Loyola Marymount, a Roman Catholic university, bowed to student protests and permitted the Alliance of Gays and Lesbians, a student club, to meet on campus and use school facilities. (Clubs that combine gay men and lesbians are becoming passe at some schools where lesbians have broken away to create organizations of their own.)