The Secret Gay History of an Amerin Fraterny

Contents:

• GAY HISTORY OF MEN’S FRATERNI
• THE SECRET GAY HISTORY OF AN AMERIN FRATERNY
• GAY AND GREEK: THE EXPERIENCE OF BEG GAY AND A ATERNY
• MY ATERNY YEARS AS AN OUT GAY MAN
• I WAS A GAY AT BOY. THE “HORRIFIC CINT” AT BUCKNELL UNIVERSY’S FRAN’S HOE WAS NOT AN ANTI-LGBT ATTACK
• L.A. AFFAIRS: I FELL FOR A GAY USC AT STAR. THEN I BEME ONE
• GAY MEN BLACK FRATERNI
• GAY FRATERNY BROTHER?
• YOU’RE NOT BREAKG BARRIERS BY BEG GAY A ATERNY
• THE LAMBDA: ALL THGS GAY & FRATERNAL

GAY HISTORY OF MEN’S FRATERNI

While there have always been gay and bisexual men aterni, is only the last that they have been acknowledged, sometim accepted, and often rejected. 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. 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.

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 SECRET GAY HISTORY OF AN AMERIN FRATERNY

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.

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.

GAY AND GREEK: THE EXPERIENCE OF BEG GAY AND A ATERNY

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). 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.

MY ATERNY YEARS AS AN OUT GAY MAN

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.

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 . 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. 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.

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. 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.

I WAS A GAY AT BOY. THE “HORRIFIC CINT” AT BUCKNELL UNIVERSY’S FRAN’S HOE WAS NOT AN ANTI-LGBT ATTACK

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. “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 ?

L.A. AFFAIRS: I FELL FOR A GAY USC AT STAR. THEN I BEME ONE

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.

GAY MEN BLACK FRATERNI

“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.

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.

“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.

GAY FRATERNY BROTHER?

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. Many straight, gay and bisexual men have said that the shared showers, latr and changg areas; the pent-up horns and need for sexual exprsn all make the ary a place that awakens same-sex sire. Th, homoerotic iatn ruals allow servicemembers to flict the ab they’ve endured and also tt new members’ willgns to subm to tradn and group-thk whout succumbg to emotn or “stctive” homosexual sir.

YOU’RE NOT BREAKG BARRIERS BY BEG GAY A ATERNY

Jane Ward, thor of Not Gay: Sex between Straight Whe Men, says that the thkg surroundg the ruals is, “If you endure together this kd of mortifyg, huiatg and embarrassg homosexual act, then that not only toughens up your body, but will also build and strengthen that bond around you.

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.

THE LAMBDA: ALL THGS GAY & FRATERNAL

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.

That distctn matters, bee I do not want LGBT stunts feelg any ls safe than they need to my llege years the mid-00s, I straddled two worlds I lled “gay world” and “Greek world.

I mpaigned agast the Kentucky amendment banng gay marriage that year, and 2006 helped anize a prott when the Universy of the Cumberlands expelled a stunt for beg gay. ASUA’s Pri Alliance striv to mata a drop- rource center that offers a supportive social and amic environment for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer, as well as allied, stunts at the Universy of Arizona.