Sat, Jan. 18, 2003
FIU gay group aims to become fraternity
STEVE ROTHAUS
Outlooks
STEVE ROTHAUS
Jose S. Mateo, a gay Florida International University freshman, is candid about why he didn't feel comfortable in a traditional fraternity with straight frat brothers.
''When they're talking about their girlfriends, and you're talking about your boyfriend, they're going to be a little weirded out,'' said Mateo, 18, who last June graduated from Coral Park High School in West Miami-Dade County.
Wanting to be a part of campus fraternity life, however, Mateo and 26 other gay FIU students -- most of them Hispanic young men from Miami-Dade and Broward counties -- have launched their own group, Gamma Lambda Mu.
''It is to offer gay college students and gay-friendly college students a social group and a place where they feel comfortable to be who they are,'' said group president Mario O. Campa, 21, a visual-arts major who graduated in 1999 from St. Brendan High in Southwest Dade.
''The one thing that everyone has in common is that they are gay and have the same experiences coming out with family and friends,'' said Jorge Casas, Gamma Lambda Mu's vice president and finance chairman. ``They should know they're never alone. There's always a support group to turn to. That's one of the reasons we started this.''
This month, leaders of Delta Lambda Phi, a national fraternity for ''gay, bisexual and progressive gentlemen,'' will come to FIU and colonize Gamma Lambda Mu.
''We're going to affiliate at the end of January with Delta Lambda Phi, the first gay men's fraternity, which was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1986,'' said Casas, 22, an FIU senior studying psychology. ''They'll give us a few pointers on how to run the colony,'' he said. ``The colony is the first step before you become a chapter.''
Gamma Lambda Mu would be Florida's only gay fraternity, according to Clayton Wilkerson Jr. of Delta Lambda Phi.
Wilkerson said the FIU group is ''very driven in its goal'' to become a chapter.
''It's one of our largest groups to come in, ever,'' said Wilkerson, 23, of North Carolina State University. ``Their school is one of the most actively involved in the formation of their group. We've never had a campus so involved in getting the group off the ground.''
Casas, a 1998 graduate of La Salle High School in Coconut Grove, said it has been smooth sailing for the group (both on and off campus) since he and the others started it last summer.
''I've been shocked how well this fraternity has been accepted by our families,'' Casas said. ``My parents think it's a great idea.
''The university itself has been great,'' he said. ''We've had a lot of support from the faculty. We've gotten a really good response'' from the FIU office of Greek Affairs.
FIU President Modesto ''Mitch'' Maidique fully supports Gamma Lambda Mu.
''FIU is a big tent and a very entrepreneurial, diverse university,'' Maidique said. ``In that spirit, I'm glad that these students have taken the initiative to create a fraternity where they can associate with friends and support each other.''
The group's faculty advisor is Todd Martinez-Padilla Simmons, FIU's media director.
''They would be the first chapter of this national gay fraternity in Florida. They would be No. 24 in the nation,'' Simmons said.
''The university has taken steps the past few years to make the environment more supportive of gay and lesbian students. From the president on down here, I've felt very strong support to be out and open,'' said Simmons, 40, a longtime Florida gay activist.
FIU's other fraternities mostly are accepting of the gay group, according to Casas.
A few, though, have made fun of Gamma Lambda Mu.
''They were ridiculing what our rituals might be like, what our initiation might be like,'' Casas said.
Insults are ignored, he said.
Members meet potential controversy head on by wearing navy T-shirts that read, ``Gamma Lambda Mu Fall 2002. Let's give 'em something to talk about!''
Already, Gamma Lambda Mu members have worn their T-shirts at Homecoming events, the Greek walkathon for United Way and a Miami Children's Hospital fundraiser.
One rule, however, that other FIU fraternities don't have: Brothers are not allowed to romance each other lest the frat become a dating service.
''We have a hands-off policy,'' Casas said. ``That's from Delta Lambda Phi's national office.''
ON THE WEB
• For more about the fraternities, visit their websites:
• Gamma Lambda Mu,
www.fiu.edu/~gamma.
• Delta Lambda Phi,
www.dlp.org.
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