Transgender women in sorority life?

[AZTheta]

I thought you said you were done?

[anna7363]

good point, I'll stop now. I get egged on easy

[SoCalGirl]

Originally Posted by anna7363

So I'm going to preface this by saying I'm not going not say what the chapter, sorority, or college this happened at for the privacy of all involved. Essentially what happen is we had this transgender girl rush for our sorority through informal recruitment. She looks great, is very sociable, and seemed to fit in with the girls great. Honestly I would have said if we didn't know she was trans I would have considered her a steal. Like I don't think it is a stretch to say she would have easily been a "top tier" girl if no one knew she was trans.

However, despite the fact she looked so good we knew she was trans when she started rushing for us through guys in our partner frat who had known her when she was a guy. So long story short about 90% of the sorority wanted to let her in because she was such an amazing steal by getting her during informal recruitment. But 10% of the girls however were really against it, they were viciously prejudice against her. I frankly felt the way the acted was unwarranted but maybe thats just me.

So basically what then happen was that they decided they were going to break the rules and not have a vote on this girl because they knew she'd get in if they let a vote go through. They did this and the girl never got in. Honestly I think its kind of BS because she was such a great fit and would have really helped out house in recruitment next year but yeah. So I'm on here to ask what you all think and what you would have done?

First things first: How does someone have a join date of 11/30/2012 but doesn't have a first post until today? I've said it before about other posters (who were undeniable spammers) but I think there's something screwy.

Second, to address the OPs question "So I'm on here to ask what you all think and what you would have done?"

I'm pretty sure I would have fallen into the 10%. If the person is not in fact a woman, he is not eligible to be considered for membership. Therefore, no vote is required.

If the person has completed transition and is physically and legally a female there'd be a whole mess of worms to deal with now wouldn't there?

From a sorority perspective, we don't ask PNMs to hike up their skirts and show us their lady parts. I signed a lot of stuff as a pledge. Maybe something attested to the "yup, I totally meet the requirements", including the fact that I'm a she.

Will there come a day when transgendered people are embraced in society as much as homosexuals are today in comparison to 20+ years ago? I don't doubt it. But sorority membership isn't where that will begin.

As far as I'm concerned, a young transgender/sexual person has way bigger chickens to fry.

To the OP, it's great that you're concerned for your sister's future prospects at happiness. That shows you're a good person. But getting snippy with strangers on the internet won't impact her life.

[misscherrypie]

I thought about this subject when I became friendly with a trans person who identified as she during my last year of undergrad. I know that our school paper covered her story and that of other members of the trans student population and it got me to thinking.


I've never heard of a trans person pursuing membership in my sorority. Since Title IX is almost irrelevant in the case of my org due to the lack of collegiate chapters, I don't know if being transgender would ever or could ever be a reason for denial of an invitation to membership in Beta. I've also never heard of a sister of Beta Sigma Phi transitioning as a male legally and medically.

[DrPhil]

Most GLOs have woman/man in their descriptions and not female/male.

I have no problem with Delta initiating a collegiate or alumna woman who is easily identified as a woman but is a biological male (who took/takes estrogen) or intersex. With hundreds of thousands of Sorors, I wouldn't be shocked if we have some transgendered women. As long as the woman doesn't make Delta her sounding board for transgenderism.

A female who identifies as a man probably would not pursue sorority membership but if he did he should be denied based on gender. If an active member of Delta becomes a man post-initiation, I think this should mean a depledge and Delta should be able to revoke membership. If the man is unwilling to be so polite about this process, the man should be expelled from membership. We are a sorority for women and of women. Not men.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

As long as the woman doesn't make Delta her sounding board for transgenderism.

THIS X SO MANY BAJILLION.

This actually applies to any out of the ordinary issue with a PNM.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Most GLOs have woman/man in their descriptions and not female/male.

The difference between (biological) sex and (social) gender is why I said this. That difference was also the reason for some of the back and forth in the "college sexual assault and rape" thread.

[DrPhil]

Yeah, being transgender isn't a negative, isn't a secret, and the member should be loved and accepted as any other member. The member also shouldn't be loved because she is transgender (unless joining an LGBTQ GLO). Therefore, making it THE issue, THE discussion point, and THE rallying cry does a disservice to a chapter's and GLO's larger goals; and, as far as some transgendered people are concerned, can defeat the purpose of making the TRANsition.

[DubaiSis]

Regardless of the flounce and the high probability of at least SOME fabrication of the original story, I still think it's an interesting issue to discuss. And although I do have a trans friend (can't finish the process because of a successful career as a drag queen) I can't say I know too much about the issue, except that drag=|= trans. And particularly where it would apply to sorority membership I would want complete transition before consideration, which all but eliminates membership at the collegiate level.
But if a hermaphrodite had gender assignment completed before college I have no issues with membership. You just gotta have the right parts and hopefully we can trust your answer to that question because holy hazing Batman, finding out would be a problem.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

But if a hermaphrodite had gender assignment completed before college I have no issues with membership. You just gotta have the right parts and hopefully we can trust your answer to that question because holy hazing Batman, finding out would be a problem.

Actually, the term hermaphrodite is kind of like calling someone an Oriental these days. It's intersex. And the prevailing attitude nowadays is not to force "normalizing" surgery on minors.

[LXA SE285]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

Regardless of the flounce and the high probability of at least SOME fabrication of the original story, I still think it's an interesting issue to discuss. And although I do have a trans friend (can't finish the process because of a successful career as a drag queen) I can't say I know too much about the issue, except that drag=|= trans. And particularly where it would apply to sorority membership I would want complete transition before consideration, which all but eliminates membership at the collegiate level.
But if a hermaphrodite had gender assignment completed before college I have no issues with membership. You just gotta have the right parts and hopefully we can trust your answer to that question because holy hazing Batman, finding out would be a problem.

It sucks that your friend's job is the only thing holding her back from surgery, if that's what she wants. On the other hand, if she's who I think she is, I can see where it would be hard to give up a gig that lucrative.

[anna7363]

Any fabrication that is in the story was to and still is to protect people from shit going down. If things came out that happened a lot of people could get in a lot of trouble. It's not worth the drama and I don't want to see friends get hurt (I know I said I was done but I think it's something important to mention). The whole premise of the story is more or less true with slight edits for peoples safety.

[Sororitysock]

Originally Posted by anna7363

Any fabrication that is in the story was to and still is to protect people from shit going down. If things came out that happened a lot of people could get in a lot of trouble. It's not worth the drama and I don't want to see friends get hurt (I know I said I was done but I think it's something important to mention). The whole premise of the story is more or less true with slight edits for peoples safety.

You are not a sorority member nor ever have been. You completely made all of that up. You have no idea what happens in internal sorority matters nor do you know that people would "get in a lot of trouble" nor what "shit would go down." People here have been very polite to you in spite of the fact that you made everything up.

[DrPhil]

I didn't read the OP's posts and am only in this thread because of the larger topic. Either flounce or contribute to the current discussion, anna7363.

[anna7363]

I know, I was really more commenting to Dubaisis' comment