Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Considers Transgender Ban

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated is laying the foundation to become the first Black Greek-letter fraternity to ban transgender members.

via GLAAD:

During its Constitutional Convention, which began on July 10 in Chicago, delegates of the storied organization for African American men will consider an amendment to their bylaws that would restrict membership to “any male defined as a human being naturally born male, who remains and continually identifies as a male,” according to a draft reviewed by GLAAD.

Some members of the organization say the proposed language is not only discriminatory and unnecessarily exclusionary but politically motivated. They say the organization’s national leadership — and this amendment — don’t reflect a broader Alpha membership that can be more accepting and welcoming.

“Their decision to alienate trans and nonbinary people from membership is reactionary, asinine, and unbecoming of an organization with a professed commitment to human rights,” said Deandre Miles-Hercules, a self-described “gender creative” Alpha who uses they/them pronouns and likely would be impacted by the proposed bylaw amendment. “It’s ludicrous to be the fraternity of Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King Jr. and come up with a policy that bans trans people.”

Alpha Phi Alpha was founded in 1906 on the campus of Cornell University. It’s the oldest of nine Black Greek-letter fraternities and sororities that emerged in response to racist exclusion. Now pivotal cultural institutions, the so-called Divine Nine boasts a membership of an estimated two to four million largely (though not exclusively) Black people and continues to serve a vital role in the Black community. Central to their legacy, Alpha Phi Alpha’s especially, has been racial uplift.

“After the NAACP, it’s Alpha Phi Alpha, honestly,” said Matthew Shaw, assistant professor of law at Vanderbilt Law School and assistant professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt Peabody College. Noting that many Alpha men were central to the “march to racial desegregation” and the Civil Rights Era, Shaw also questions how an organization “with this legacy” could consider a policy such as the proposed ban. Entities with similar historical and communal significance — like the NAACP, for example — have expressly affirmed their support of LGBTQ+ communities. “What they’ve understood is what I understand, that the logic of civil rights has got to remain inviolate.”

“If we allow certain discriminations, we have to allow for all of them,” continued Shaw, a lifetime Alpha member. “If Alpha then adopts the logic that White Citizens’ Councils had against Black people desegregating schools in the 1950s and ’60, what’s to say that you couldn’t use that logic against Black people in 2024?”

Nearly a dozen interviews with members of Alpha Phi Alpha — some conducted anonymously out of fear of retaliation or personal and professional safety — reveal a generational and moral split in the 118-year-old organization between national leadership, which is more likely to be older and more traditional, and the general body and collegiate and alumni chapter leadership, which is often more likely to be younger and more progressive.

“Many of these organizations thrive through conservatism, but that’s not necessarily what either the general membership truly wants or what it needs, given the shifts beyond the organization in culture and in reality,” Shaw added. “A fear of change is honestly what’s happening.”

But as one Alpha man based in Philadelphia said, the proposal shouldn’t even be a question. “Trans men are men,” he said. “I just feel like at the end of the day, if you identify as a man and you want to be in fellowship with other men, then you should be allowed to. It doesn’t sit well with me that a white man can be a member of Alpha, this historic Black institution, with no problem, but we’re going to tell Black trans men that they can’t. We’ve got all types of men in this fraternity, so to me, that’s how I look at it. It’s just another type of man.”

A few things still need to be clarified about the proposed bylaw amendment, starting with how it would be enforced. It’s also not known how many members of Alpha it would apply to, if it’s supposed to apply to prospective members only, or if it’s targeting current members who have transitioned and/or come into their not-cisgender-ness since joining. Regardless, trans and nonbinary people are already members of Alpha Phi Alpha. Some have distanced themselves from the formal organization since initially joining. Others are present, either having not disclosed their gender identities or defiantly taking up space, like Miles-Hercules.

Miles-Hercules, pursuing a Ph.D. in linguistics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, joined Alpha Phi Alpha while an undergraduate student at Atlanta’s Emory University. They were inspired by a resident advisor who became an Alpha man as well as the social justice legacy of the organization as demonstrated by notable alumni. “It was a no-brainer for me, essentially,” they said, and the type of lifelong commitment that seemed aligned with how they saw themselves impacting their communities and the world.

But in retrospect, Miles-Hercules admits, “My relationship to the fraternity has always been contentious.” That’s because after joining, they were confronted with “the package of Black masculinity,” especially in their chapter and on their campus, in the form of compulsory heterosexuality, homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny. They consistently challenged their brothers and other Divine Nine members on Emory’s campus. Those in Miles-Hercules’ chapter grew from the interactions, they believe, and Miles-Hercules considers their line brothers among their closest friends.

Miles-Hercules’ gender presentation has moved “further and further away from the norm of what’s expected of a member of Alpha Phi Alpha.” And while those in the organization closest to them haven’t been shocked or even concerned that they might damage the group’s image or brand, others in the brotherhood have reportedly gone as far as mocking photos of Miles-Hercules in online group chats.

“It’s not surprising to me that there are transphobic sentiments within the organization — because I’ve experienced it,” they said. “But it is surprising that the organizational leadership would move forward with attempting to enshrine it in organization policy in the year 2024. That doesn’t make any sense to me.”

While the potential bylaw amendment would specifically impact trans and nonbinary members of the organization, gay, bisexual, and queer members see its consideration as another example of the brotherhood’s refusal to acknowledge the diversity within its ranks officially. For example, the fraternity has never formally recognized Pride month — even after a 16-member collective wrote a letter to national and regional leadership in March calling for the org to “express public support for Alphas and men who are part of the GBTQ+ communities during Pride month and World AIDS Day.” The letter, reviewed by GLAAD, also called for leaders to revise all institutional documents to be more inclusive (changing “male/males” to “person/people,” “brothers” to “members,” and “wives” to “spouses”) and to strike the language of the proposal, instead defining membership as being for “??any cisgender man, transgender man, and/or nonbinary student who identifies with upholding the ‘manly deed’ principles of the fraternity.”

This June, Alpha Phi Alpha did not publicly acknowledge Pride Month on its official social media pages. Three members of the organization confirmed that Alpha’s stance, as communicated to inquiring members from national leaders, is that supporting Pride is a political act. Fearing that their chapters could be de-chartered for defying such a position, more progressive leaders have reluctantly obliged and not posted on their social pages.

Do better, Alphas. This is completely unacceptable. For more on why this ban is SO problematic, continue reading GLAAD’s report here.

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