I'm a traditionalist at heart and I have to say it makes me very sad to think about the end of lavaliering. I don't see it as a gay / straight issue but rather a sign of affection between two young people and a sign of tradition. This may be long but I would like to share 2 of my most cherished memories involving "pinning". The first is about my Father-in-law who suffered from Alzheimer's. At one point he had "gone back in his mind" to where he thought he was 19 years old and in University. He very sweetly and solemnly asked me one night at dinner if I would "wear his pin". My husband was amazed that his father not only still had his pin and knew where it was, but also that he "remembered" what pinning was. I accepted his phi-delt pin with all of the love that a 19 year old girl would have had. I keep it in my jewelry box and I LOVE looking at it and remembering that dear sweet man. (I have also joked with my husband asking where HIS pin is...
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My second cherished memory involves my own father who passed away 6 years ago. I recently was "brave enough" to sort through his "catch-all" box that my mother had given me. Inside I found a Chi-Omega badge (Not my GLO). I knew it had to belong to an old family friend whom my father had dated in college and who had written my Chi-O rec when I was going through rush. I called her explaining that I had found a badge and wondered if it was hers as I would like to return it. She started crying. She still had my fathers Sigma-Nu pin!!! She asked that I keep her badge as she did not want to part with my fathers and that she would make sure it was returned to me after she was "gone". This touched me so greatly that she wanted to not only hold on to a piece of her youth and a piece of my father but also wanted me to hold on to it as well. They obviously never married, didn't even date past college, but clearly both cared enough to hold on to each other's badges for more than 50 years. I LOVE owning her pin almost as much as I would love to have my father's for the simple reason that it makes me closer to him in a way that ordinarily I never would have been and it helps me know the man he was before he was "dad".
Without the tradition of pinning or lavaliering I would not have either of these memories. If you do away with the tradition how many future memories are you taking away from the next generation. I know VERY few people that ended up marrying the person they were lavaliered or even pinned to in college, but I do know most of them still cherish that time in their lives and that symbol. Greek life is such a huge part of your life at that age and to a GLO member sharing their letters is the "ultimate" in sharing their love. IMHO part of what makes Greek Life so special and important is the carrying on of traditions. You celebrate the same creed, the same rituals and same values that all of your sisters and brothers before you did. You pass down to the next pledge class these traditions and the same love for the sister/brotherhood. Pins and lavalieres are part of this tradition. If you take away this simple act of two young people (gay or straight) sharing their letters-a tradition that has been shared since the beginning of GLO's- then you in essence taking away part of the history that binds individuals to their GLO.
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