Lavaliering question
 

My boyfriend is an alumni member of Pi Kappa Phi and I am a member of an honor Greek organization (Alpha Psi Omega), and I had some general lavaliering questions. First off I'm gay (and a boy obviously) and I wanted to know if there was any precedent for gay Greeks lavaliering. Also, would it make any difference that he is an alumni, or is the gesture perceived in the same way? Is it okay for me to lavalier him, since I'm not in a social Greek organization and would I be presenting him with his letters, or my letters, especially since I'm only in an honor organization? Where can I get a REALLY nice lavalier, it is his birthday present, and he is also in the military and will likely be deploying soon after, so I want it to be really good quality.

Thank you!
-J

I'm going to have to say "No" on him lavaliering you. The reason is simple: non-members are not supposed to wear letters from another organization.

The difference: You would be assumed to be a member of Pi Kappa Phi; a female would not.

I'm not sure I agree. If we are talking about a traditional letter drop on a chain, that's pretty obviously a lavalier. I have never seen a man wear one with his own letters, and if I did see a man wearing one, I'd probably assume he was in a relationship with a member.

I was asking about lavaliering him, not him lavaliering me.

Lavaliering is a foreign concept in my GLO, but from what I've read on GC, this is something that's done between undergraduates. I wasn't aware that alums practiced this.

On the alumnus aspect of it: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=44280

On the gay aspect of it: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=99988

Frankly, I've never heard of lavaliering someone with honor society letters. And doesn't it raise the same issue LaneSig raised -- he could be mistaken for a member.

I guess the heart of my question is: would it be considered inappropriate for me to lavalier him with his own letters?

I think the whole point of lavaliering someone is giving away your letters in some sort of fashion (though not like pinning). Those letters aren't really yours to give away. But that's just my personal opinion.

It doesn't make any sense. The lavalier says that you love someone enough to give them YOUR letters, not theirs. The fact that you are both men has nothing to do with it.

On my campus, there were indeed people who lavaliered with the letters of a professional or service fraternity, but YMMV. Guys without letters sometimes "pearled" their girlfriends who were greek.

Hmmm... so would you think it okay to lavalier him with my Alpha Psi Omega letters? We're not nearly as strict with our rules about letters, seeing as we're an honor fraternity.

That's really going to depend on your chapter and/or traditions on your campus.