TRANSGENDER: NPHC and NALFO question
 

This question is for opinions from people in NPHC, NALFO, or any other coed Greek council.

John Doe pledges Fraternity X. Later, he becomes transgender and is now Jane Doe.

Assuming he meets the qualifications and would receive an affirmative vote of the chapter, would the council's rules allow him to be initiated in a second NPHC or NALFO organization?

This is just opinions right, or do you only want someone who's very familiar with the written regulations?

Just my opinion, I don't think so. The NPHC is still aligned with the organization's rules and regulations. We would not allow dual NPHC membership. It's not about the person's gender. I would think being previously initiated in another NPHC org negates Jane Doe's eligibility.

Opinions are fine. :) I don't have the bylaws in front of me or anything, so I don't know exactly what the wording is.

I was talking to a frat brother about this moments ago, and we're both rather progressive, so the actual "would we vote on a transgender person" wasn't the issue, but more whether the will of the members of the organization would clarify the NPHC rules before the rules clarified themselves.

I am sure that the wording in most Constitutions and By-Laws stipulate no dual membership between fraternities or between sororities. I would be quite impressed if forethought was made to include sororities in that or vice versa. At one time, it was just a point of 'common sense' or règle du jour, but those times have certainly changed. All this to say.... depending on the organization's rules, it MAY be possible.

There are no rules/bylaws in NALFO that discuss this, as membership is handled by individual organizations.

I'd think that most fraternities/sororities would take this on a case by case basis due to the specific transgender reassignment.

I agree with wargame because I believe the dual membership provision is qualified with either fraternity or sorority depending on the organization. In that way, I am not sure that they would be legally disqualified to seek membership.

That being said, I do not think that attaining membership in the organization that corresponds to the new gender would be at all easy in the case of the NPHC; if the transgender status is known.

So it would become a question of de facto, rather than ipso facto, disqualification.

Lawyers, did I get the terminology right?

Very interesting; I was just talking to a friend about this topic (well a variant of this topic). I believe it was said, but I don't believe anyone's bylaws include one joining a sorority after pledging a fraternity...

Suppose you were a Phi Beta Sigma, then became a woman, subsequently pledging Zeta Phi Beta.

You'd be your brother's sister. (I think)

Considering today's climate, maybe our organizations should take a serious look into it. Everything that used to be "common sense" just doesn't apply in 2009. Nothing is "common" anymore.

To answer the question, I think the second NPHC organization part of any org's bylaws are simple and finite. If you've been XYZ, you can't switch up and be ABC. Honestly, I don't care if you switched genders. There's no switching into Sigma if you already have XYZ near to your heart.

And whether they truly had it near to their heart is of no consequence. :p

I agree with you about changing times and "common sense." The NPHC rules forbid joining more than one NPHC org, as well as joining NPC and IFC and then pursuing NPHC. This would apply to joining a fraternity and a sorority, as well. The language will just need to be more explicit than implied.

;) :D

I think the availability of graduate/alumni chapters in NPHC should prevent someone from having to go through something like this. If a person knows s/he will be going through gender reassignment, why not wait until after transitioning?

^^^ But who's to say an 18-year old, second semester freshman who pledges an NPHC org knows at that age that they're going to go through with a gender transition?

It has to be in the back of his/her mind that this is something that will eventually happen. If a male feels like a female in every other aspect, why would associations be different?