Kg-To Yng, Mdy Stombler, Reneé Wharton, Makg Men Gay Fraterni: Ristg and Reproducg Multiple Dimensns of Hegemonic Masculy, Genr and Society, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Feb., 2006), pp. 5-31
Contents:
- GAY HISTORY OF MEN’S FRATERNI
- YOU’RE NOT BREAKG BARRIERS BY BEG GAY A ATERNY
- GAY AND GREEK: THE EXPERIENCE OF BEG GAY AND A ATERNY
- THE SECRET GAY HISTORY OF AN AMERIN FRATERNY
- MY ATERNY YEARS AS AN OUT GAY MAN
- GAY MEN BLACK FRATERNI
- THE LAMBDA: ALL THGS GAY & FRATERNAL
- GAY MEN FACE CHALLENG WH U.'S ATERNI
- GAY FRATERNI: SMALL, BUT GAG STEAM NEW YORK AND ELSEWHERE
- KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
- ESTATE AGENT JAILED FOR VIC ATTACK ON TWO GAY MEN HOLDG HANDS
- JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ACH OUT AS GAY
GAY HISTORY OF MEN’S FRATERNI
* gay men in fraternities *
While there have always been gay and bisexual men aterni, is only the last that they have been acknowledged, sometim accepted, and often rejected.
YOU’RE NOT BREAKG BARRIERS BY BEG GAY A ATERNY
Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay. * gay men in fraternities *
As a rult, new aterni have been found which ter to gay, bisexual, and straight progrsive men and the anizatns ntue to flourish on mp today.
” Case ascertaed that the percentage of gay men who are aterni is siar to the percentage of male stunts on mp who are gay or bisexual. On average, the male rponnts were able to nfirm (om knowledge received eher durg or after llege), that 5 to 6 percent of members their aterny chapters were gay or bisexual.
GAY AND GREEK: THE EXPERIENCE OF BEG GAY AND A ATERNY
He also found that gay and bisexual members joed a aterny for siar reasons as heterosexual members, namely to fd iendship and mararie, as a social outlet, and to have a support group and sense of belongg. The tenncy toward “over-achievement, ” Case believ, reflected a need of gay and bisexual male stunts for self-validatn and acceptance om the aterny. The Lambda 10 Project Natnal Clearghoe for Gay, Lbian, Bisexual Fraterny and Sorory Issu was found 1995 at Indiana Universy to heighten the visibily of gay, lbian, and bisexual members of the llege aterny system by servg as a clearghoe for rourc and tnal materials.
Three years later, Out on Fraterny Row: Personal Acunts of Beg Gay a College Fraterny was the first book to look closely at the llective experience of sexual inty and aterny life. This anthology chronicled the posive impact of gay and bisexual brothers wh aterny life, the llective harms of homophobia on iendship/brotherhood, and the prevalent “nial dynamic” jog a aterny–the belief that somehow by jog a aterny my “gay feelgs” will subsi.
The experience of gay and bisexual men vari greatly pendg on the men wh the chapter, the llege mp climate, and the natnal aterny learship. The acceptance of gay and bisexual aterny brothers is relatively greater when members jo the aterny closeted, tablish a close iendship and brotherhood, and then disclose their sexual inty. The Lambda 10 Project documents s of men who have been kicked out for beg gay or bisexual as well as men who are weled or accepted for who they are.
THE SECRET GAY HISTORY OF AN AMERIN FRATERNY
For some openly gay and bisexual men wantg to jo a aterny, that may only leave one choice: a gay and bisexual sensive aterny. Free of heterosexism and homophobia, the aternal environment provis a safe, fortable space for men to velop a strong sense of iendship and a balanced sexual inty—whether be gay, bisexual, or heterosexual. The men are able to ga the promise of aterny life—iendship, valuable learship skills, and a posive self-teem whout the hostily and hatred often prent toward gay and bisexual men a tradnal aterny.
Delta Lambda Phi wnsed solid growth the late 1990s and is currently the olst and largt gay and bisexual sensive aterny wh over twenty-five chapters and loni. Many men are g to mp openly gay and bisexual, so the need for such aterni will only crease as more men are lookg for the aterny experience whout the heterosexism and homophobia.
While gay men and bisexuals are certaly fdg more opportuni to be a part of the aterny experience, transgenr stunts will face a tougher battle, pecially if they want to jo existg aterni. As more and more people e out of the closet and at younger ag, aterny members will see an crease the number of gay and bisexual men who sire to be a part of the Greek experience (Baker 2002).
MY ATERNY YEARS AS AN OUT GAY MAN
As a rult, llege admistrators as well as natnal aterny lears will likely place more emphasis on creatg policy, practic, and tnal rourc that affirm the prence and acceptance of gay and bisexual members.
In addn, aterni found to provi the Greek experience to gay, bisexual, and perhaps even transgenr stunts will ntue to grow both the number of chapters as well as the number of stunts per chapter. <> Listg of Delta Lambda Phi lol aterny chapters as well as historil background rmatn on the foundg of the anizatn, ’s prcipl and valu as the first and largt natnal aterny for gay, bisexual and progrsive men.
<> Rource clearghoe of tnal terventns, books, articl, personal says and other web lks related to sexual orientatn issu aterny and sorory life as well as a listg of over 4000+ openly gay men and women llege aterni and sorori to work for visibily and support of g out today on mp. Gay people throughout time have had to make their own fai, and I unrstand the appeal of wantg a group of iends you n ll your “brothers. The other day I watched a TikTok where an openly gay whe aterny brother joked about how he has to make sure that girls know that they are “safe” around him bee he is not straight.
GAY MEN BLACK FRATERNI
In a sense, he knows that aterni are famo for beg a dangero place for women, but for some reason beg gay absolv him om that part of the aterny? Gay people are no strangers to vlence, pecially sexual vlence, so why would you as a gay person ntribute to a culture that perpetuat ? In fact, I was told by a member of one of the aterni I tried to sh that “they probably wouldn’t bid a member if they knew that he was gay.
It may seem like you are breakg barriers by beg gay a aterny, but all you are dog is ntributg to the toxicy that so many are still victims of on mp. “And I fet what he said exactly, but he said ‘I jt wanted to say I hope you sh the hoe, bee you ma me qutn what I always thought (about gay people). “So what I was thkg, ” Ohlger said, “what really me down to was, if I uld change the opn of how 60 straight at guys viewed one gay person, or the whole gay muny, while I hung out wh my bt iends and had a really good time, why wouldn’t I do ?
THE LAMBDA: ALL THGS GAY & FRATERNAL
He said, however, that om his experience, when you view on an dividual level, most of the aterny members the IFC aren’t unacceptg of gay people. “Whenever someone starts jerkg around and sayg (homophobic) thgs, but not necsarily meant to be rogatory, that kd of feeds to those perceptns. “But you know you need to put up some sort of faça, ’s part of somethg that you learn growg up that most people, most gay guys do and I’ve talked to other gay guys who are the same way.
One major factor that ntribut to the perpetuatn of the Greek stereotype on mp is the lack of visibily of gay stunts aterni. Bee many gay stunts feel unfortable g out to their brothers and, turn, don’t e out, people both si and outsi the Greek muny are unaware gay members exist wh the system. Javier, who me out to his aterny brothers as an unrgraduate at Rockhurst Universy Kansas Cy, Mo., spoke about the stereotyp and perceptns that surround the Greek muny and the psychology behd why many gay stunts feel unfortable g out.
“There’s been gay marriage proposals a variety of stat sce that survey, so I thk maybe that fluenc peopl’ perceptns of how they teract wh the LGBT muny, but I don’t know how much or if has at all, ” Parrz said.
GAY MEN FACE CHALLENG WH U.'S ATERNI
“One of the reasons straight-intified men don’t intify as alli is bee they don’t want to be mistaken, quote unquote mistaken, as gay, ” Javier said. But they meet you and they see you’re ol, like all of a sudn beg gay isn’t some weird thg, some strange alien, not some crazy thg they’ve jt hear about, ” Ohlger said.
No, this is a story about thgs I saw and heard and experienced, but don’t end wh me steppg bravely forward and proudly clarg my homosexualy to the world and fdg my place .
GAY FRATERNI: SMALL, BUT GAG STEAM NEW YORK AND ELSEWHERE
Afterward, my broad-shoulred stoner iend sually told Jason that “What we did was okay, bee I heard you have to do three tim wh a guy to make you gay. In the aterny which I belonged, a small subset of iends began referrg to the annual fall visatn of alumni as “Homog Weekend.
By the time I graduated 1987, I had been through a few Homog Weekends and taken the long walk wh several of my olr aterny brothers, who would awkwardly nfs to beg gay. “But the guy’s a homosexual, and there are guys who say they’re gog blackball him to prevent him om gettg a bid, ” I was told. Stori of the “gay murr” Lock Haven, Pennsylvania appeared everywhere, and were read by lns the big cy newspapers Philalphia and Ptsburgh.
Well, I don’t want to overstate , but ’s clear that Mike – like most gay people – had been eply and adversely effected by the closet s and homophob that surround him. The same year I belatedly disvered that soon after Mike Hoeknecht was found ad on mp, a gay and lbian support group was formed at LHU. It stands to reason, however, that such a high-profile tragedy would galvanize the gay muny and lead to the formatn of such a group.
KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
In 1992, when I found out about LHU’s gay and lbian group, I told myself that if such a group were loted near my home New Jersey, I would jo right away. The guys that elected their first openly gay print would have had no ia about the experienc of Mike Hoeknecht four or five years before that. And the guys the aterny today would probably be surprised to hear that they were once prid over by one of only two openly gay men on mp at that time.
Class, and the odd profsor, on his way to teach , who all knew I'd jt “shacked, ” a term ually rerved to slut-shame sorory women but which was applied jt as egregly to me, the out gay man who wasn't Greek but sperately wished he were. The sex was eher borgly heteronormative, like the top-tier aterny man who wanted me to lie there silently as he thst and out of me, leavg $50 on my nightstand as he left bee he thought I “need” , or vlently homophobic, as wh the man om the “date rape aterny” who liked to smack me the face and sp on me, remdg me what a ltle queer I am.
In their book, this was nothg short of a party foul; I had ed the “good tim wh the gay boy” by volvg feelgs, somethg they uld never five.
ESTATE AGENT JAILED FOR VIC ATTACK ON TWO GAY MEN HOLDG HANDS
I see Greek life as a system that upholds the opprsive stctural forc of racism, sexism, classism and homophobia, and my head I n nstct exactly why aterni and sorori are such pernic stutns.
” one participant told the study also found that those wh more favorable attus toward gay men were more likely to have kissed another of the participants said they did not nsir kissg to be a sexual act. The weddg's lor scheme (red and whe), as well as Gay and some weddg atten holdg aloft the same hand signs (reprentg a Playboy bunny), bpoke Gay's aternal affiliatn: Kappa Alpha Psi.
Here enters the ntroversy: The weddg brought unwanted natnal attentn to the fact that some black aterny members are gay and may be cled to marry other men. Gay also noted that the image of him photographed wh his pledge brothers, performg their signature hand sign, was not tend to nvey a "gay Kappa weddg. Gay dited that he believed the weddg vio's dissematn to have been at the hands of a member om a "rival" black Greek-letter anizatn (BGLO).
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ACH OUT AS GAY
Stigmas attached to homosexualy may lead to gay pledg beg treated worse or harsher than normal, although most gay members don't believe that they were personally treated differently.
To fight the stigmas attached to homosexualy, many gay members feel that they mt validate and thentite their masculy so that other members regard them as "te" brothers. It wouldn't be surprisg to fd a sizeable portn of heterosexual black aterny members who believe that gay members should eher be expelled or have their nduct regulated (or to have gay aspirg members refed membership). However, the same dividuals fail to nsir how a whole range of black aterny members' behavrs damage the anizatns' brand and how the "brand" argument may simply panr to the attus of homophob.
This puts black aterni that (or members who) might seek to discrimate agast gay aspirg llege chapter members, for example, to nsir the implitn of such a policy on the viabily of llege chapters. Probably the most legimate ncern that heterosexual members have about gay members is that some gay members are more than happy to transgrs the bounds of brotherhood.