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DFran (and James, too) --
Title IX (enacted in 1972) states that "[n]o person in the United States shall be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." The US Department of Education, to which Congress gave the authority to define and enforce this directive, has issued regulations interpreting this prohibition as prohibiting the distribution of any federal funds to any educational institution that shelters a single-sex organization.
Title IX does make a few exceptions, including "social fraternities and social sororities" that draw their membership primarily from the student population of the educational institution. Thus, a fraternity or sorority that is sheltered by an educational institution may remain single-sex if the Dept of Education determines that it is a social fraternity or sorority. For many GLOs, (including NIC, NPC and NPHC orgs) such status is obvious. For other orgs, it is not so obvious. Phi Mu Alpha requested and received a ruling from DOE in the '80s that we are a social, not professional, fraternity.
The reason that social GLOs are exempted and professional GLOs are not is that professional GLOs exist to assist in the professional development (and networking) of their members. Allowing such an org to remain single-sex would catagorically deny the other sex access to such professional development and contacts.
DFran, my best advice is seek out the assistance of a lawyer who knows something about education law in general and Title IX in particular. You're in a great position, because you are just now founding this organization and are setting its guiding principles. You can make it what you want it to be. Good luck.
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