Posted on 09/28/2001 9:28:54 PM PDT by al-andalus
Students meet, prepare to establish gay fraternity at Duke
By Matt Bradley
A poster in the Center for Lesbian, Gay , Bisexual and Transgender Life advertises a gay fraternity some students hope to bring to Duke.
Delta Lambda Phi, a nationally recognized social fraternity for gay, bisexual and gay-allied men, hopes to establish itself at the University by the end of the year. Forming a colony is the first step in what founders hope will become a nationally recognized chapter in the future.
After a meeting Sept. 22, the club--currently designated as an interest group--had six members and hopes to begin rush in the spring along with the rest of the University's fraternities.
"Right now, we're in the interest group stage, and we still have to write our colony petition," said sophomore Nathanael Holley, Delta Lambda Phi president. "Everything's going smoothly; we haven't hit any snags."
Holley said the colony is a precursor to establishing a residential fraternity, but that securing housing on Duke's campus is far down the road.
Kerry Poynter, programming director at the Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Life, said the concept of a gay social fraternity may surprise many at Duke because it challenges traditional perceptions of the gay and greek communities as political polar opposites.
"There's an impression, whether it's real or not, that you can't be gay and be in a fraternity or sorority," Poynter said. "There are a lot of stereotypes about LGBT people, and there are a lot of stereotypes about people who are in fraternities, and there is a notion that the two communities don't fit together. This is not correct."
Although Holley participated in rush last year, he decided not to join a fraternity. He said he has friends in fraternities but felt that joining the greek system would compromise his identity.
"There was a negative perception of frat brothers from independents. Frat guys are expected to do certain things, to have certain friends, to look a certain way... all the clichZ things, and at Duke, they're also expected to be straight," Holley said.
But Dave Rak, a gay senior and member of Theta Chi fraternity, said his experience has provided a strong sense of support.
"It's great, because to me, it should be a non-issue. It's part of who I am, but it's not everything about me. My fraternity brothers have really showed that it could be like that," Rak said. "They've been so supportive and even more involved in my personal life than I ever thought they could be."
Rak said the new fraternity might further marginalize Duke's gay community by self-segregating an already small openly gay population. "At some point in my Duke career, I have known sometimes more than three gay members of practically every single fraternity here, and the majority of those fraternities never knew they had gay members in them," Rak said. "I don't think that the Ôout' population at Duke tries to make it easier for people in the closet to come out." Rak added that he hopes the new fraternity does not preclude other fraternities from accepting gay rushees.
However, a gay member of another fraternity, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, felt differently about his experience. This senior said that while he is involved in a relationship off-campus, he has not been openly gay within his fraternity.
"I think it has to do with the traditional convention of a bunch of guys living closely together, and some people are just uncomfortable with homosexuality," he said.
"You put those two things together, and that makes for some uncomfortable situations."
The student also strongly believed that a gay social fraternity would face prejudice and harassment, both from other fraternities and the general student body.
Vice President for Institutional Equity Sally Dickson said she hopes a gay fraternity will increase the comfort level of gay students on campus by making the population more visible. "Sometimes people feel more comfortable with social interactions where people share a background or sexual orientation," Dickson said.
Really? If true, hope is alive.
So, they're saying that gays are like bacteria? You know CFU's - colony forming units. As long as they don't get TNTC traditional society will be alright.
look them up.
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