News :: GLBT
Dartmouth Fraternities Now More Gay Friendlyby Kilian MelloyWednesday Apr 2, 2008 Ten years after a magazine article declared Dartmouth to be a "Questionable School" when it came to GLBT students, the students and fraternities are in the midst of a turnaround.
In a story posted Apr. 2 at the Dartmouth News online site, attitudes at the school’s frat houses were contrasted and compared.
Said student Cody Lavender, the co-chair for the school’s gay / straight alliance which is called Gender, Sexuality, XYZ, "We purposefully create our own space" when it comes to social occasions at Greek societies.
Still, not all students are entirely welcoming to GLBT peers, although today the climate at Dartmouth has come a long way from the 1999 issue of Metrosource Magazine, which listed the Ivy League school as a "Questionable School for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Students."
The incidents that do arise can sometimes take on comic shadins, as when last year a Gamma Delta Chi member was seen hurling cans of beer at coed fraternity The Tabard, clad only in his underwear. When three Tabard members approached him, the man reportedly shouted, "Shut up, faggot!"
The three Tabard members then told the Gamma Delta Chi brother that the anti-gay slur took his conduct into hate crime territory. The response: the Gamma Delta Chi member declared that he "wasn’t a racist," reported the Dartmouth News.
Five years ago, the same invective was hurled by a frat brother on the porch of his house at a passerby, leading to an annual forum where GLBT students can air their stories. The name of the panel:
"Don’t Yell ’Fag’ From the Front Porch."
Other developments have a more grim tenor, such as the college allowing a fraternity to reorganize after its 1996 de-recognition by Dartmouth following an alleged incident of racism and homophobia.
The article quoted student Aurora Wells as saying, "That the College could sanction [Beta Theta Pi] coming back shows a complete disregard for the welfare of its student body."
Continued Wells, who the Dartmouth news reported self-identified as "queer," "A house that is so flagrantly homophobic and sexist and racist--the symbolism involved in re-sanctioning that house is incredibly scary for the GLBT community at Dartmouth."
But in general, the trend has been for fraternities to extend a welcoming hand to gay pledges. Said That Delt’s Tanner Tananbaum, "If [one] person is put into an uncomfortable position or feels alienated, that will be seen by other brothers in the house."
Added Tananbaum, "One brother shouldn’t take away from the goal of the house to be open to the Dartmouth community."
Indeed, reported the Dartmouth News, Theta Delt is a sponsor of Dartmouth’s Pride Week this year, according to Tananbaum, who went on to say, "We can’t control what every person says, but we can make an attempt to make sure that this person understands that in the future that’s not going to be tolerated, accepted."
Said Tananbaum, "That’s not indicative of what we’re trying to stand for as a house."
It’s a delicate balance to strike; whereas gay Sigma Phi Episilon member Raymond Rodriguez was quoted as saying, "It’s a little harder for guys to be ’out’ in a house because of the way gender dynamics work and what is considered to be masculine and what is the innate nature of what guys tend to do," a member of Psu Upsilon who identified himself only as Taylor said that brothers of that fraternity take pains, sometimes too much so, to avoid giving offense.
Said Taylor, "It was weird having everyone be like, ’Is this okay?’"
Taylor characterized the experience as frat brothers "Stepping on my toes trying not to step on my toes," said the Dartmouth News article.
The main point, Tananbaum suggested, is that pledges of whatever sexuality join up to be with friends of whatever sexual persuasion.
Said Tananbaum, "You might be the only ’out’ person in a house, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s the only way you identify yourself."
Added Tananbaum, "You’re in the house because you have friends in the pledge class you want to be with."
Tananbaum continued, "It’s not the restrictive selection of the most masculine on campus."
Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor.
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