Posted on 12/10/2004 1:32:31 PM PST by newgeezer
AMES, IA -- A new fraternity has formed at Iowa State University, limited to homosexual and bisexual men. Formation of the Delta Lambda Phi chapter, approved unanimously last week by Iowa State's Interfraternity Council, happened quickly.
Brian Olechnowski, 22, of Long Island, N.Y., arrived as a graduate student in August. He was initially skeptical about the interest level of ISU students. But by September, the group had 11 members. By October, the group had raised the $600 petitioning fee and was recognized by its national fraternity.
"There are definitely people not in overwhelming support of the fraternity," said Olechnowski, the group's president. "One gentleman who is part of the gay community, he was very upset about the group being started up. He thought we were trying to be separatists or revolutionaries."
Delta Lambda Phi is a growing national fraternity with 2,000 initiated brothers, 20 chapters and 12 other groups working to become a chapter.
Delta Lambda Phi is open to gay and bisexual men, and allies, considered "progressive men." The group is now a "colony" at ISU, working toward full status as a chapter.
The fraternity will not get money from state government or student fees, and does not yet have a house. But it has all the rights and responsibilities of a fraternity, including representation on the Interfraternity Council and support from the university.
"They're a part of us. They're working with us," said Shawn Eagleburger, 22, an ISU interior design major who is president of the Interfraternity Council. "We're very excited to have this group. There's not a whole lot of opposition to it."
Dusty Garner, a vice president on the national board for Delta Lambda Phi, said this is a first for Iowa. An attempt by ISU students to form a chapter of Delta Lambda Phi four or five years ago failed. A chapter in Mississippi fought for two years against anti-gay policies before being recognized.
"It's a big deal that the Interfraternity Council was open-minded enough to say, 'Yes, please, come along,"' Garner said of Iowa State. "That shows a really great step forward in general in the Midwest for an open-minded society that probably wasn't there a few years ago."
Delta Lambda Phi, launched in October 1986 by three men in Washington, D.C., is expanding quickly in the Midwest with colonies forming in Toledo, Ohio, Raleigh, Mo., and Manhattan, Kan., Garner said.
"The news has been all positive that we've heard," said Phil Hernandez, vice president of ISU's Delta Lambda Phi, who described ISU as a friendly campus that doesn't discriminate. "Everything has been going well."
It will take between one semester and two years for Delta Lambda Phi to become a full-fledged chapter at ISU, which has 30 fraternities and is considered one of the predominant Greek systems in the state. The new fraternity is being mentored by those from the University of Minnesota.
The University of Iowa in Iowa City has 20 national men's fraternities but does not have a chapter of Delta Lambda Phi and does not plan to add a chapter in the coming years, said Jason Pierce, an assistant director in Iowa's Office of Student Life.
"We haven't had student interest," he said. "Students have not come forth in saying, 'This is something we need and want."'
So how does this make them different from the other Frats?
1.The other Frats are not practicing a behavior that spreads a deadly virus.(generally)
2.How about a Frat for pedophiles?
3.How about a Frat for polygamists?
4.How about a Frat for people who practice beastiality?
If we keep lowering the bar...why in he!! even bother with college?
Besides, we need to keep something normal, to set us apart from the Europeans.
From what I hear you've got a few. Prolly not any of the Nupes I knew in college but hey, who knows...
Blaine and Antoine give this new frat two snaps up!
Mmmm, Greece!
"Have an avowed hetero try to sign on.
When denied, sue the piss out of them for discrimination."
BUT....what if they let him in? AAAAAHHHHH!
We've been around since 1911, so it stands to reason that there have been a few.
But check this. Langston Hughes was a homosexual, as everyone knows. Guess which frat he belonged to...
OMEGA PSI PHI! That's right. Sweetpants was a Que Dog.
I swear that had another "o" and one less "p" in it!
Homosexual Agenda Ping.
Sorry about the huge number of pings. :-(
If being homosexual is so normal and everything, why do they need a special fraternity? They want to be normal, special, mainstream, and welcoming to leather clad S&M afficiandos. Which is it?
It's a psychological disorder, that's what it is, and should not be indulged, promoted or tolerated. It should be treated and healed. Which is can be.
Let me know if anyone wants on/off this pinglist.
How do they prove they're homosexual or bisexual? Is there a test?
I think they have one at Cow Tech.
Now, now, now...no one is laughing at YOU...BWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
And I suspect that all these people support Tom Harkin too!
LAMAR latrell
We shall call you Flounder!
Have his/her Mom as the "co respondent's?) in the case?
I would happily move right in and wipe their little faces.. off the earth!
Even the ACLU couldn't deny A Mom the right to protect her "children"!
How do you separate the men from the boys in this fraternity?
With a crowbar....
Not quite a fraternity joke, but it fits.
A Greek and Italian were sitting down one day debating who had the superior culture.
The Greek says, "We have the Parthenon"
The Italian says, "We have the Colosseum"
The Greek says, "We had great Mathematicians"
The Italian says, "We had the Roman Empire" and so on and so on and then...
The Greek says: "We invented sex"
The Italian says: "That is true, but it was the Italians who introduced it to women"
I wish they would change it to the new GA[Y] flag.
UNNNNGGGGGHHHHH
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