The July 2006 issue of The Advocate magazine named UCLA among its Top 20 Gay-friendly college and university campuses, yet despite the self-professed pan-inclusive, multi-ethnic student body, one fundamental aspect of collegiate life is most notable in its absence: we’re not Greek.
Delta Lambda Phi, based in Washington, D.C. was organized in 1986 and currently boasts 18 chapters spread across 10 states. Amongst other California campuses, UC Davis, UCSD, and Cal-State Long Beach Delta-Lambs recruit alongside straight frats during the Fall Rush.
The Beta Kappa chapter is port of call for sailors around the Bay Area, and even tiny Alpha Omnicom enfolds a dozen or so Brothers in a collective bear-hug spanning the entire San Fernando Valley.
So, why not UCLA?
Oddly enough, there used to be one. In fact, the symbols that unite Lambda Brothers under a crest with three stars represent the first three chapters: Alpha, Washington, DC; Beta, San Diego, CA; and Gamma—UCLA.
As in other fraternities, clubs, and organizations, maintaining a steady flow of recruits is a never-ending task; a chore which fell by the wayside within recent years. Randy Hubach, an alumnus of the original UCLA chapter said, “To my knowledge, the chapter at UCLA died due to retention issues. Early in DLP's history, the fraternity was not as strong or as well managed as it is today. There has been a lot of growth in our chapters and how the national fraternity is managed, and I do believe a reformation of the chapter could be really successful at UCLA at the present time.” However, Tom Bourdon, the assistant director of the LGBT Center on campus advised, “Someone can out a call out on the Gay Bruins’ listserv and see if there’s any interest in forming a gay frat. I’ll support any efforts to get one started if that’s what some of the students want.”
Conversely, Carlos Saucedo, general representative of USAC who has championed a platform for supporting diversity and gay-friendly initiatives stated, “I don’t have a problem with anyone else trying to form a gay-frat here at UCLA, but I’m not into it. I think the whole frat system is by nature elitist and racially exclusive—especially and I don’t support that.”
Several members of a gay men’s discussion group at the Center echoed this sentiment as well. One student said, “If you’re white, rich, and good looking, then you’ll get into a frat, but if you fall outside that circle, you’re screwed.”
So, what would it take to engage/re-engage a chapter here in Bruin territory?
Jon Arbelaez, National Office Extension Director of Delta Lambda Phi enthused, “We are extremely excited about starting a chapter of DLP at UCLA,” and explained the necessary steps for starting a Chapter.
Usually led by one or two dynamic individuals, interest groups are small groups of men that learn about Delta Lambda Phi and decide to form a chapter. After registering the interest group, the national board of directors mandates each must have at least three
Men, who believe they can successfully establish a colony by recruiting other men to
assist them.
Moreover, each of these men, plus any of their recruits, must be willing to devote the necessary time, energy and financial resources to founding the colony.
A numbers balancing act then ensues, as a neophyte chapter must secure at least eight members, yet hold off from recruiting more than fifteen men each semester in the interests of maintaining selectivity within the chapter. Hence, the argument against elitism gathers some weight.
However, the charter of Delta Lambda Phi claims its primary objective is to foster brotherhood among gay, bisexual and progressive men through dignified and purposeful social, service and recreational activities that selects its members based solely on an individual’s character and commitment, and no man is denied the opportunity to seek membership.
What about gay women, trans-gendered, or others who may not identify as male?
Arbelaez explained, “To accomplish our objectives, we use the traditional, Greek-letter fraternity model to develop extraordinarily strong bonds among our members; indeed, these bonds extend beyond mere friendship and can only properly be described as brotherhood.”
To that effect, at its annual convention in 1992, the Fraternity decided to stay single-sex rather than go co-ed.
Their spokesman added, “We believe that if straight men can enjoy the traditional (i.e. non-coed) Greek experience, gay men, should be able to enjoy it as well. Moreover, gay men, by virtue of being gay men go through a unique, shared social experience. Delta Lambda Phi is a way of gay men of varying backgrounds to find common ground in that experience.”
Indeed, since many of the chapters service multiple campuses like the Alpha Deltas in San Diego, who include members from UCSD, San Diego State University, and the University of San Diego, it would not be unconceivable to envision a pan-Angelic House attracting Brothers from UCLA to USC, Cal-State L.A., and even Loyolla-Marymount.
A gay fraternity at a Christian school? Well, if the Alpha Kappas at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX can be out and proud, why shouldn’t Los Angeles take the lead in progressive intercollegiate culture as we do in academics, athletics, and entertainment?
Perhaps, ultimately it’s a matter of cost. With University-wide cutbacks, despite rising tuition and fees, maybe the cost of maintaining a chapter is simply prohibitive.
Maintaining membership within the national organization, which helps supervise the recruitment of new members and adherence to the community service-oriented goals of the fraternity, along with mandatory insurance dues can top $250 per member each semester. While this may seem a small minimal cost, comparable to semi-annual student health premiums or lab fees, the tally for continual social events, which include weekend retreats and various banquets, many run to several thousand dollars per year.
However, if a group of dedicated young men were able to surmount these obstacles once (in 1988), there certainly doesn’t appear to be any reason why a new bunch might not reinvigorate the UCLA chapter with new blood, new energy, new hope.
The reins simply wait for new jockeys.
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