Bisexual Student Says He Was Harassed by Fraternity
 

This was sent over the NALFO listserve today.


The Highlander > News
http://www.highlandernews.org/news/b...nity-1.1740587

By Alex Maduena, Michelle Hurtado, Trent Smith

Published: Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Updated: Tuesday, November 2, 2010 14:11

When Andy Ruiz decided to join UC Riverside's local Lambda Theta Phi chapter last winter he did so with the understanding that his sexual orientation might cause problems with members of the fraternity.

This is the reason Ruiz, now a second year History major, did not tell anyone involved with the frat that he identified himself as bisexual-at least not right away. When signing up for the induction process, Ruiz marked "straight" on the designated form which inquired after his sexual orientation. When Ruiz did confide his sexual orientation to a fellow initiate, he did not expect word of it to spread.

And when Ruiz was hazed, he said it was because of his status as a new inductee-not his sexual orientation-that he was forced to sleep on the floor of the Lambda house's garage in the winter with other inductees.

And, ultimately, when Ruiz was prompted to seek medical attention after coming close to fainting it was not because of his sexual orientation. Ruiz was suffering from an ear and sinus infection, diarrhea, multiple bruises and was vomiting after meals. Ruiz told the doctors that he had been working out. The doctors concluded that Ruiz suffered from a lack of sleep. It was because of these illnesses-caused by the hazing-that Ruiz dropped out of pledging ceremonies.

But when Andy was publicly ridiculed in front of the Bell Tower, it was his sexuality that became his detractors' point of attack.

Ruiz was at Lambda Theta Phi's "Coming Out" or "New Members Salute" ceremony last March where new inductees-and those who failed to complete the pledging process-were presented to an audience.Ruiz said that members of the audience repeatedly called him a "cock sucker" and said that he liked "disco stick."

Ruiz also said that two members near the front of the audience pantomimed homosexual acts before him and the rest of the audience. It was after this that Ruiz ran to his car.

"I ran to my car and just sat there and began hitting everything," said Ruiz an interview with the Highlander. After some time he called family members to pick him up saying that he was in no condition to drive.

"We're lucky he called us," said Ruiz's sister Wendy Castro, an alumna of CSU Los Angles in an interview. Castro said that she was "disgusted" about what the fraternity had done and called them "pigs."

"You hear in the news about all these suicides around the country by people because they're gay," said Castro in reference to the increased publicity that taunting and bullying related suicides have been receiving.

"They stole something special from Andy [...] I really think that coming out is something you need to do on your own, but everything came out in chaos. His mother fell into depression and his stepfather still doesn't know about it," said Castro.

"What did I do to them? I smiled when I was around them, I travelled around with them, I was an active participant. I don't know why they would do this to me, I don't know what I did wrong," said Ruiz.

In another situation taking place on Sept. 26, a member of Lambda Theta Phi approached Ruiz. Ruiz was at a party at the Sterling Apartment complex when, after having spent about an hour at the party, when the member approached Ruiz.

The member reportedly said to Ruiz that it was because he was gay that the fraternity was facing disciplinary action from the university.

Ruiz is currently in the process of transferring to a different campus as a result of his experiences with the Lambda Theta Phi fraternity.

Carlos Ramos, National Director of Communications for the Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc. stated in an e-mail that the fraternity does not support hazing or sexual harassment.

"The fraternity will not tolerate or condone any form of abusive or discriminatory behavior on the part of its members, whether physical, mental or emotional in respect to sex, race, ethnicity, physical or emotional handicap, age, marital status or sexual orientation," said Ramos.

A contact for the local Lambda Theta Phi chapter was provided to the Highlander by a representative of Chicano Student Programs and did not respond to multiple e-mails requesting an interview.

The contact did call the Highlander office but allowed the phone to ring only once before hanging up. The phone number appearing on the Highlander's phone matched the phone number of the contact.

The allegations against Lambda Theta Phi place them on grounds for discipline for breaking standards of student conduct. If Ruiz is telling the truth, according to the UC Riverside's Student Conduct website, the fraternity is guilty of codes 102.08, 102.9 and 102.12, which include rules against physical abuse, the "threat of violence or other conduct that threatens the health and safety of any person," sexual, racial and other forms of harassment and hazing, respectively.

The fraternity is currently under temporary suspension as of press-time due to another incident earlier this quarter.

Student Conduct declined to comment on this case as it has been re-opened since last year.
Editorial Note: This is an ongoing story and may be followed by subsequent updates.

Why do they even ask that question...

Thanks, LatinaAlumna. I got this on the NALFO listserv.

@ DF - I wondered the same thing.

Drolefille, that was also my first thought, but I chalked it up to apples and oranges until K_S also expressed confusion.

How would the fraternity even check?

The whole situation is appalling on so many levels......

Good question, but whatever the reason- it was the big hint he should have taken before pledging.

I particularly like how he and his family seem to have fallen apart over the fact he had to witness "pantomimed homosexual acts".

There is enough real hatred and oppression in the world to worry about- why should I care about a story like this?

The guy voluntarily joined an organization that was not essential to his well-being or future where he had plenty of advance warning that he was not going to fit in. I give him a lot of credit for being stupid- but that's about it.

Hearing the description of him running to his car and just hitting things before calling his parents to come pick him up... breaks my heart. :(

I hope these assholes get punished, expelled, and/or booted from their fraternity since they violated both school and fraternity rules.

This is moronic.

How so?

Let me ask you this- would a sane straight person join an organization where they had to check off their sexual orientation on a box or knew that potential gay or bi members were warned in advance that they might not be welcome?

This whole recruitment process screams "idiotic" to anyone intelligent.

I do not understand why he joined. For that matter- I do not understand why anyone would join.

And given the unforseeable and oppressive difficulty I have personally witnessed so many good people and families face in their lives, I really don't feel any sympathy here.

That does not excuse the chapter itself- I agree they are deserving of removal. I am just saying those who join such a group bear some responsibility for the fruits they may reap.

And it is designed to drop a hint and be a control mechanism. Dumb, nonetheless.

Because your brain is strong enough to handle the complexities of our social world. Hatred and oppression are in all sorts of organizations and institutions.

But...but...get this: The most awesomest thing about our social world is that you don't have to personally care about anything for it to be a reality that others experience and care about.

What...in...the...world!?

Are you drawing a dichotomy between "sane straight person" and "insane crooked person?"

Cuidado, por favor.

Are you drawing a dichotomy between "idiotic to anyone intelligent" and "not idiotic to anyone who is unintelligent?"

Cuidado, por favor.

ALERT THE PRESS AND CALL THE CORONER!!! EE-BO FEELS NO SYMPATHY!!! WHERE WOULD MINORITY RIGHTS BE IF THE MAJORITY DIDN'T FEEL SYMPATHY!!! OMG!!!

Oh---how did you end up here? Did you miss a right turn?

In other words, this is like those other threads in the past week where people end up saying "oh yeah...btw...that doesn't mean that so-and-so isn't to blame...I'm just saying the person should've known better."

EE-BO,

you have to understand that there are GC posters who feel that no matter what, a person does not have to take responsibility for their own actions.

Whatever happens to them is always someone else's fault, despite clear warnings they should not take that action.

You need to get over yourself.

And there are GC posters like you who can't read to save your lives.

This is why I tell you to fuck off. You do realize this, right?

Fuck off.

:rolleyes: Yes, how wrong of him to join an org that prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. And to discover that his brothers weren't deserving of the letters they held over his head. How wrong for him to want to belong.

As I understand the Civil Rights movement in this country, most of the majority did not feel sympathy, hence the KKK and Jim Crow laws. It was the result of much hard work, labor, dedication and literally sacrificing of lives of minorities, and a few majority legislators who had the ability to see the benefit (for lack of a better word) that allowed Civil Rights to happen.

I think you are making a real stretch here.....

Can I just predict the thread now and save us all a lot of work?

One side: "OMG, he totally should have predicted that he would be harassed for being bisexual. He deserved it, or at least some of the blame."

Other side: "No one expects to be humiliated by a group he or she thought they were a part of in front of an auditorium full of people. A person cannot be responsible for the way others harass them."

Random poster: "This seems like victim blaming."

Kevin: "Something about rape."

First group: "Well there are things people can do to prevent blah blah blah share the blame."

Other group: *collective facepalm*

Everyone (but Kevin, who sits back and watches with glee the carnage he oh so obviously caused): bitch bitch bitch moan moan moan bitch moan bitch

Everyone again: "I need a nap."





You're welcome, I just saved us days of posting.

That went waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over your head.

Just shut up.

No.

It's just gonna end up in passive aggressive remarks in other threads about how "some people" do this or that. My vote is that "some people" who want to throw around "some people" remarks like they're some kind of martyr realize that the only thing they need to do to stop their martyrdom is to stop acting like some kind of demented victim.

How's that for victim blaming?

About where they would be if the "majority" really did feel true sympathy. And it would be a shame if they did because every human being on this planet deserves a lot more customary consideration than that which sympathy has to offer.

I think it is possible in this- and other- situations for the the person who pledged and the organization in question to both be in the wrong.

The young man who is the subject of this discussion has far greater challenges to face in his life than the acceptance of a student organization.

He made a bad decision. He is partially at fault for it. My message is walk away and move on realizing that others need to learn the lesson for themselves, or that he needs to stand up on his own and make a statement.

Bringing his family into it is not what a man does in this particular case. Allowing your family- especially your mother- to be dragged into it is especially disgusting to me.

When and if the day comes, I will glady fight a battle in the public press against someone who has done wrong by me. But I sure as hell would not allow my mother's upset over my situation to become part of the public story.

That is the difference between being a man and being a loser- and it is the one thing that most prompted me to comment on this thread.

That also went way over your head.

Yea, there's no way that Lambda Theta Phi would ask that. More than likely, it was something thought up by the chapter.

I'm a little confused, though, because of some of the wording in the article. It doesn't look like it was the Lambdas who were taunting him. It seems like it was members of the student body. I guess we'll have to wait for more info.

ETA: I just reread the article. He wasn't t initiated, so the taunting DID come from the Lambdas.

Lambda Theta Phi is a big deal in the LGLO community. It's not a stretch for a Latino student to want to be a part of the organization. And fitting in at that chapter isn't always the concern of prospects.

Because this bears repeating.

Fill me in. I am not here to just argue- self-assured and set in my ways as I may seem to be, I am always open to learn.

This thread seemed like an open and shut case from my point of view. I was clearly wrong. It can only be good to understand why.

This is interesting. Are you saying that this GLO caters to LGLO students? If that is the case, then it seems from the facts presented in the article this is a rogue chapter or a bunch of guys with a bitingly sarcastic sense of humor who were madly misinterpreted (with the former seeming far more likely.)

:) Such is the life of LGLO and BGLO aspirants who see the lifetime commitment beyond their college days.

Yeah I'm amused that both sigmadiva and EE-BO didn't grasp that I'm telling EE-BO, and other members of the majority, that his care or lack thereof doesn't matter.

I wrote the book on this situation.

Because in a non LGLO it would not be a rogue chapter? Seriously?

Lambda Theta Phi is often cited as the first LGLO. In terms of size, it's the second-largest LGLO, so it's far reaching.

FYI - I hope you know that LGLO = Latino GLO and not Lesbian/Gay Letter organization.

Lazarus plug?

*as the heavens open and the angels sing*

:D

Oh, that's probably what he meant. I was confused by that.

LGLO =/= GLBT (or LGBT, or LGBTQ, or LGBTTQAA)

The 30s came before the 70s!


RERELEASE in SPRING 2011

Hence the "often" :)

*waits to add to Amazon shopping cart*

I must admit- I thought it was an LGBT thing. Hence my not understanding.

It doesn't affect my life either way, nor does it affect the core of what I have had to say all along.

This is getting terribly complicated.

On that note, SenusretI, are you "intelligent" enough to believe that aspirants who don't run away, because of the homophobic tendencies of some members, are idiots?

You are overstating how unimportant this story is to you. Is it okay for you to have an opinion without stating how you don't care, don't feel sympathy, and it doesn't impact your life either way?

Where's the complication?

All those capital letters getting mixed together. Like some sort of alphabet soup.

If it's so complicated, maybe you should educate yourself about the situation before passing judgment.