Openly Gay Members

[MikeEllis]

In 1986, there was a fraternity pledge at East Texas State who (and I'm using his own words here) "heard all their crap about brotherhood and thought they meant it." So he came out to his Big Brother. Immediately, the chapter had an "emergency meeting" and booted the pledge out because they were worried about their reputation for having a gay fraternity member.

Meanwhile, there were at least two other member who were gay and probably even a couple. Most everyone knew about them, but they weren't hassled because they didn't openly admit to anything.

Do situations like this still happen today, 25 years later?

[naraht]

All I can speak to is my service fraternity (Alpha Phi Omega)... Within the last 10 or so years we have had two out of the closet gay men on our board, one at large and the other representing "Region X" for which most of their chapters are in California. No guarantee of course of what would happen at an individual chapter, but if Nationals found out it would *not* be pretty.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by MikeEllis

In 1986, there was a fraternity pledge at East Texas State who (and I'm using his own words here) "heard all their crap about brotherhood and thought they meant it." So he came out to his Big Brother. Immediately, the chapter had an "emergency meeting" and booted the pledge out because they were worried about their reputation for having a gay fraternity member.

Meanwhile, there were at least two other member who were gay and probably even a couple. Most everyone knew about them, but they weren't hassled because they didn't openly admit to anything.

Do situations like this still happen today, 25 years later?

Of course it still happens. It may not be handled as obviously as your situation, but a guy who comes out in a conservative chapter could suddenly find himself in front of standards board for what would normally be minor infractions.

I'm hoping these cases are few and far between, but we're talking about an age group that still sees the "right" social reputation as a top priority. On some campi, getting the "gay" reputation would be social suicide.

I'd like to think one day that it won't matter, but unfortunately, we're not there yet. It's sad that some people can't just live their own lives and take care of their own marriages and not worry who their neighbour is married to.