[The Cushite]

I am sorry if I came off as trying to assess the intent of Bro. Sensuret I by suggessting he had an agenda, but I think that everyone has an agenda. Whether it be commercial, personal, religious, social or psychological, our interactions with one another are purposeful (this is what I meant by agendas). I also don't want to make it seem that having an agenda is all the time a bad thing. Bro. Sensuret is homosexual and a brother of Alpha phi Alpha. Admittedly, I think that Alpha Phi Alpha has a ways to go by enlarge before we fully embrace the homosexual brothers that are a part of the brotherhood. I just think that brothers should be more conscience of the perception of the brotherhood. Like I posted earlier, I don't think that Bro. Sensuret I was doing anything intentional in linking Alpha Phi Alpha with homosexuality, but the perception could be that a man that is openly gay and known to be an Alpha could imply (not necessarily does imply) that there are many more gay brothers than there actually are. This is the problem that I have with the "normalizing" tactic that I noted earlier with the gay rights movement. Let me state for the record that I think that there are both civil and moral issues that affect the gay rights movement. As citizens, they deserve the same rights as any law abiding citizen in the U.S. As moral agents, they have no more of a right to tell me that Homosexuality is not a sin as I have to tell them that it is (in other words, that issue is up for critical debate, which on some level will never be resolved, so at best, we would probably have to agree to disagree).

Seeing that this last point is crucial, one has to come to terms of how much do you respect the fraternity if you are not willing to acknowledge that being a homosexual in the fraternity is a very small minority and that this is the true reality of the frat? Again, this question goes to the heart of how much you care about the perception of the fraternity. Now, I don't think that the fraternity should be perceived as a "Gay" fraternity because of a few openly gay brothers, but I would hope that the gay brothers would respect the fraternity enough to publicly proclaim the reality of the fraternity, that there are very few homosexual brothers and that the fraternity as a whole has nothing about it that affirms homosexuality. As I stated before, nothing in the constitution or bylaws states that Alpha Phi Alpha affirms homosexuality, so there is no need to have the fraternity perceived as such. Now, should we affirm it, that is up for debate. Until we have that debate; brothers, gay or straight, should respect the fraternity enough to allow for the fraternity to be perceived in the truest "light" as possible. While doing so, if a gay brother wants to have a debate about the issue, then let's have that debate in house. Let's go point for point, counter point for counter point with the ideals and values of the jewels as the plumbline to measure the points and let the best argument win out. Then let's affirm the desires of the entire brotherhood, not the opinions of a few.

Blackwatch!!!!!!