-
- Showtime documentary explores origins of church’s hate for gays
- Conservative California Anglican diocese splits with U.S. church over Bible, homosexuality
- Man caught in sex sting worked for Kerry, HRC
- Congress drops hate crimes from Department of Defense bill
- Man or woman?
- Doctor sued for incorrect HIV diagnosis
- National News Briefs
san diego
Lambda 10 Project releases national GLBT fraternity and sorority research
Greek life more welcoming despite recent harassment, national study says
Published Thursday, 13-Dec-2007 in issue 1042
Last week, the Lambda 10 Project National Clearinghouse for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Fraternity & Sorority Issues released results and a set of strategic recommendations from the first-ever, national formal study to explore GLBT experience within fraternities and sororities from 1960 to 2007.
The results come on the tail of numerous anti-GLBT hate-related incidents at San Diego State University and expand upon the informal research assessment of Doug Case, coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Life at SDSU, who is also one of the targets of the recent attacks.
“The overriding conclusion of the [Lambda] report is that the climate of fraternities and sororities is becoming significantly more positive toward LGBT people now than in the past,” Case said.
The Lambda 10 Project results, which used Case’s 1995 study and expanded upon the issues it identified, found that fraternity and sorority organizations are more welcoming of GLBT members today than in the past. It also shows that more than 79 percent of the respondents were out to members of their fraternity/sorority, compared with 83 percent of the overall undergraduate population reporting it was out.
For example, a respondent who joined a fraternity in 2000 said one of his fraternity brothers told him that if he did not bring his boyfriend to a formal someone else would. The respondent said the brother told him the respondent’s boyfriend should be there. “Some brothers ‘outed’ me to pledges saying ‘Just so you know, [our] brother is gay. If that’s not okay with you, you need to find another house.’”
By comparison, a man who joined a fraternity prior to 1990 noted that one of his brothers and friends was kicked out for being gay. “I felt we betrayed him. He looked to us for support and our chapter turned our back on him,” he said.
Additionally, the new study indicated the main reason GLBT people join fraternities and sororities is for “friendship,” and that a significant number of these students are involved as leaders in their respective chapters.
Led by Pennsylvania State University’s Sue Rankin, a scholar and researcher on GLBT experiences in the campus environment, the survey is the first-ever formal study of its kind, and the Institutional Review Board at Pennsylvania State University has reviewed and approved it.
Given that more than 50 percent of current undergraduate respondents reported that the climate within their chapters was “somewhat homophobic,” researchers said there is still work to do. The new data will help researchers to better lead educational efforts for men and women in fraternities and sororities, and serve as a starting point for ongoing education, policymaking and research efforts, Rankin explained.
The published report lists a detailed set of recommended initiatives to assist campuses and chapters in fostering a more inclusive environment. The report encourages campuses or chapters to:
• sponsor and support GLBT events that contribute to understanding of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression issues;
• develop policies and practices that are inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. This should go beyond the policy of non-discrimination and should consider how the organizations practice GLBT inclusiveness;
• implement a zero-tolerance policy for jokes, name-calling, and the display of demeaning images or messages in the fraternity/sorority regarding sexual orientation or gender identity/expression;
• develop a procedure for addressing harassing behaviors, including those directed at people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity/gender expression;
• participate in climate assessment programs to measure whether the local fraternity/sorority chapter is accepting of GLBT members and to explore the attitudes and perceptions of others;
• participate actively in Safe Zone programs and consider ways to make the fraternity/sorority local chapter a Safe Zone; and
• enact a guest/alumni policy to communicate clearly that it is not acceptable to use demeaning language or harass members on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.
“Our shared vision is that one day there will be no invisible LGBT members of the college fraternity or sorority. Each of us will have a welcome place among the brotherhood or sisterhood,” Rankin said.
Case, said that it is merely a coincidence that the Lambda 10 Project study results were released just weeks after a homophobic letter was published in the personals section of The Koala, an alternative student-run newspaper at SDSU, targeting him.
The letter, anonymously signed “The Greek Community,” was one of a number of hate-related incidents on campus. The most recent – an attack on a 23-year-old student – came last week, after several members from the Greek community attended a rally to speak out against hate and show their support for Case and the GLBT community.
In response to the hate letter, representatives from the Interfraternity Council presented Case with a letter of support signed by “The Real Greek Community,” noting that the letter published was clearly not their doing.
SDSU Police, along with San Diego city law enforcement officials are investigating the attacks.
|
|
Copyright © 2003-2025 Uptown Publications
