Quote:
Originally posted by Discogoddess:
My thoughts exactly, soror.
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It seems to me that the ladies of AKA have based their judgment of my fraternity on hearsay and not fact. Delta Phi Upsilon does not have, does not use and has never even seen the rituals of AKA. Please also see the following which is a reprint of a message I posted to all AKA members on this board which was subsequently deleted by the moderators. Thank you.
This message is for the ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and any other interested parties. My name is Trevor Charles and I am the Executive Director of Delta Phi Upsilon Fraternity, Inc., an organization of gay men of color who are dedicated to the pursuit of community service. For a while now, my office has been besieged by emails from members of Alpha Kappa Alpha, whose sole purpose is to take my organization to task for its very existance. All of these emails allude to the fact that certain traditions of my fraternity happen to be similar to those of AKAs. Let me first state that while I can certainly understand the attachment that you may have to the Ivy leaf, the pearl, etc, I must point out to you that no organization holds exclusive rights to the use of these icons. These are universal symbols used by many other fraternal organizations, Alpha Phi Fraternity, being one. It is understandable that after almost 100 years, you would feel that within the black community, these symbols are exclusively yours. I have to wonder if you would have such a problem, if we were an organization of white men? In any case, our traditions cannot change, any more than yours can. Let me now address the supposed similarity between our public mottoes. Yes, there is a similarity between the two... in words. Alpha Kappa Alpha has pledged "service to all mankind," while Delta Phi Upsilon pledges "service to our kind." To those of us who are truly concerned about service and not just the outside trappings of a fraternity/sorority, it's not so much the words but the meaning behind them and what you do with those words. Because the "traditional" BGLOs have not made room within their brother/sisterhoods for gay and lesbian members of society to function as themselves, the need exists for groups like Delta Phi Upsilon Fraternity, Delta Phi Sigma Sorority, Delta Iota Lambda Sorority, Omicron Epsilon Pi Sorority and Iota Lambda Pi Fraternity, all of whom serve "our kind." So you see, while "Service To All Mankind" may have a distinct meaning to AKA, so to does "Service To Our Kind" to Delta Phi Upsilon. I also wish to assure all of you that Delta Phi Upsilon Fraternity has not, does not and will not publically or privately call ourselves "AKAs". The organization that you are referring to was formerly called KOSIS, Inc.,(now Organized Body of Sorors) to which Delta Phi Upsilon Fraternity, Inc., has NO affiliation whatsoever. In fact, our intake process expressly prohibits the acceptance of any man who holds or even used to hold, membership in KOSIS, Inc. I have personally spoken to AKA headquarters regarding this and have provided them with information needed to seek legal action against this group of renegade men. I too am appalled that they could practice such blatent disrespect for Alpha Kappa Alpha and her traditions, while professing love for her. I certainly hope that this will bring an end to the negative correspondence that we have been receiving. Of course, should any of you have any intelligent questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your time.
Trevor Charles
Executive Director
Delta Phi Upsilon Fraternity, Inc.