Sororities to allow all female-identifying students to rush

[Lil' Hannah]

Originally Posted by jolene

Where does it end? There's a woman in Denmark (I think that's where) who identifies as a cat. She hisses at dogs, etc.

Let the cats decide if they want her in their club?

[AOII Angel]

Chromosomes clearly do not determine sex. They are part of the equation, but so many things can happen downstream to change whether any individual will be male or female. People who think XX and XY is all that matters to solve this issue clearly don't understand the vast array of disorders that occur in the human race. My husband trained at a ambiguous genitalia clinic at Hopkins. He had no idea what he was getting into when he started fellowship. It's an interesting topic. Did you know there is a family that has had multiple girls born to them that develop male sex characteristics only at puberty? These children were raised as girls until one day they turned into boys. Everyone is happy in this family because being male is preferred in their culture.

My point is, it is a form of hubris to suggest that you know what determines a male or female and that "nature" or "God" doesn't make mistakes, as there are plenty of examples in the medical knowledge base proving that concept wrong. Just because we don't know right now why transgender people feel they are the opposite sex doesn't mean there isn't a concrete reason or that we won't know the why in a few years. Medical science is changing so rapidly, especially with the ability to cheaply assess a patient's DNA to establish what genes are seen in people of any subgroup.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by Sen's Revenge

1. Transwomen are women.

2. Title IX does not govern individual membership policies. A sorority could welcome transwomen and still bar men from joining without any legal repercussion. Title IX allows schools to recognize social fraternities and sororities regardless of individual gender policies, as opposed to other types of GLOs, which are not exempt.

3. Social fraternities and sororities could welcome opposite-gender people if they wanted to and still not lose their right to determine their own membership. I know a woman who pledged an NIC fraternity as a male freshman and then transitioned to being a woman. As far as I know, she still maintains her membership.

This is not consistent with what we were told back when Title IX passed. We were told that we were granted an exemption and could remain single gender organizations as long as we, in no way, allowed the other gender to join. At that time, all of the fraternities with little sisters groups ended the practice of little sisters groups and we were told we could not participate in big brother/big sister kinds of relationships with fraternities because it would jeopardize our ability to remain a single gender organization.

For Title IX purposes for sports and things, what criteria do they use to define it? Gender or sex?

Originally Posted by 33girl

I thought a few of the Seven Sisters schools had accepted men for a while now.

Most are still women's schools- Barnard, Wellesley, Smith, Bryn Mawr and Mount Holyoke.
Vassar went co-ed and Radcliffe merged into Harvard.

[Sen's Revenge]

Originally Posted by AGDee

This is not consistent with what we were told back when Title IX passed. We were told that we were granted an exemption and could remain single gender organizations as long as we, in no way, allowed the other gender to join. At that time, all of the fraternities with little sisters groups ended the practice of little sisters groups and we were told we could not participate in big brother/big sister kinds of relationships with fraternities because it would jeopardize our ability to remain a single gender organization.

For Title IX purposes for sports and things, what criteria do they use to define it? Gender or sex?

There are additional articles about it, but the DOE's Office of Civil Rights has interpreted Title IX to protect transgender students from discrimination based on the gender through which they live their daily lives.

And for what it's worth, you could always remain single-gender. The letters I quoted above pretty much said Title IX does not force any organization to change its policies. It's not the organizations which have the exemptions, it's the schools which are allowed to exempt social orgs.

[AZ-AlphaXi]

Interesting article

http://csulauniversitytimes.com/5702...reek-sorority/

[lake]

Originally Posted by jolene

Where does it end? There's a woman in Denmark (I think that's where) who identifies as a cat. She hisses at dogs, etc.

I wonder if she shits in a litter box and then buries it with her bare hands?

[jolene]

Originally Posted by lake

I wonder if she shits in a litter box and then buries it with her bare hands?

here ya go!
http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/entert...in-human-body/

[DZ_Turtle86]

I think it's good to have these conversations before you need to make or interpret a policy last minute when "OMG, a transgender student just registered for recruitment. What do we do now?!" and the person goes through recruitment as "THAT girl." Have discussions while you have time, and before one person is the obvious reason why.

[33girl]

Here's the thing: I believe when GLOs with white clauses eventually removed them, there were some chapters who had been taking people of color long before that and did so because they liked the person - they didn't give a crap what the policy said. This is kind of like that. I'm betting there have been transgender students in many of our orgs for a while now, regardless of what is "allowed. "

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Here's the thing: I believe when GLOs with white clauses eventually removed them, there were some chapters who had been taking people of color long before that and did so because they liked the person - they didn't give a crap what the policy said. This is kind of like that. I'm betting there have been transgender students in many of our orgs for a while now, regardless of what is "allowed. "

I hope they tell their national orgs. at some point and help to affect change. Seeing that it worked out just fine is a good way to shut down a lot of resistance, IMO.

[DGTess]

Originally Posted by lake

Have any NPC groups established guidelines regarding this? If not, it will be interesting to see what happens (this particular case is at Brown University).

http://www.browndailyherald.com/2016...dents-to-rush/

Delta Gamma has a nondiscrimination statement.

"Delta Gamma encourages an atmosphere which will foster the high ideals of friendship among women, promote their educational and cultural interests, create in them a true sense of social responsibility and develop in them the best qualities of character. Similarly, Delta Gamma Fraternity does not discriminate in its membership selection on the basis of race, religious affiliation, color, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status or physical disability. Membership is open to women and transgender persons who identify themselves as women. Those selected for membership in Delta Gamma must have good scholarship, be of good character and standing, have an interest in activities which will enhance the academic atmosphere at the college, university or community, and have a sincere desire to contribute to the work of Delta Gamma."

[PhoenixAzul]

Surfacing for lurker-dom.
This scenario has present itself in my sorority. A member was pledged (and i believe initiated) while identifying as female. The member then came out as being transgender. So the active chapter has decided that they shall be a Gender Neutral sorority. As a local, the politics of this are a little less so than in a national sorority. Overall, the reaction in the alum chapter has been positive (at least in my circles of it- there's a forum planned). We've got to meet to talk about what this means for ritual etc., but to me, this is living our motto more than anything else. "To thine own self be true." The actives could have raised a fuss, insisted that the member be stripped of membership...but instead they valued that member's contributions and activities in the sorority. The best thing I ever got from Tau Delta was the support, love, and caring of my chapter. And I'm so, so glad we can expand our circle further. :-)

http://www.10tv.com/content/sections...l-sorority.xml

http://www.otterbein.edu/Spotlights/...gender-neutral

[ihearttrisigma]

A local fraternity, Delta Pi Sigma, at my undergrad, Ursinus, has been gender-neutral since 2014.

http://ursinusgrizzly.com/2014/11/12...in-uc-history/

[KerriMarie]

Originally Posted by DGTess

Delta Gamma has a nondiscrimination statement.

"Delta Gamma encourages an atmosphere which will foster the high ideals of friendship among women, promote their educational and cultural interests, create in them a true sense of social responsibility and develop in them the best qualities of character. Similarly, Delta Gamma Fraternity does not discriminate in its membership selection on the basis of race, religious affiliation, color, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status or physical disability. Membership is open to women and transgender persons who identify themselves as women. Those selected for membership in Delta Gamma must have good scholarship, be of good character and standing, have an interest in activities which will enhance the academic atmosphere at the college, university or community, and have a sincere desire to contribute to the work of Delta Gamma."

Four for you, Delta Gamma! You go Delta Gamma!