Hunter Cook

Students launch co-ed LGBT fraternity interest group

Fourth-year College students Christi Thomas and Carl Thompson are starting a co-ed lesbian-, gay-, bisexual-, transgender-interest fraternity called Sigma Omicron Rho to allow the University's queer community to feel included in the Greek community, Thomas said. An excerpt from Sigma Omicron Rho's constitution states that the goals of the fraternity are "to increase the diversity of the Greek community through its promotion of queer pride, awareness and social activism." Vice President Molly Conger said that while there are organizations that advocate queer culture on Grounds, such as Queer and Allied Activism, these organizations tend to focus on political activism and less on "social activism." "We just feel like there's a niche within the University that we could fill," Conger said. Although there are national queer sororities and fraternities, Thomas said she felt that a single-gendered organization would not be able to fully encompass the character of the LGBT communities. "Intrinsically, the idea of being queer transcends gender," she said. Because of an exception in Title IX, the Inter-Fraternity Council and Inter-Sorority Council reserve the right to keep sororities and fraternities single-gendered, said Michael Citro, assistant dean of fraternity and sorority life. "Most co-ed groups are governed by the CIO [contracted independent organization] with the University, not an FOA [fraternal organization agreement]," Citro said. Thomas said she hopes that the organization will be a part of the Multicultural Greek Council. Along with providing a social community that members of the LGBT communities and its allies can enjoy, the fraternity plans to engage in philanthropic activities similar to many other Greek organizations, which Conger said Thomas is spearheading. Some of the social activities include a 5k race for marriage equality, a laser tag event in the Amphitheater with an LGBT-oriented educational component, barbecues, wine tastings and LBGT History Month. The interest group also plans to include "allied members" - heterosexual supporters of the queer community - in the fraternity, but Thomas warns that this fraternity is indeed a queer organization. "We don't plan to water anything down," she said, "so the allied members that do rush should be prepared for total immersion into queer culture." Even though Thomas' contacts in the LGBT communities are supportive of the group, they remain skeptical of mixing Greek life with queer life. "I'm expecting backlash," she said.