For two weeks, flyers have been turning heads in McElroy Commons with an invitation to join "Boston's only gay fraternity." Members of that fraternity, Delta Lambda Phi (DLP), canvassed the building to promote spring rush, which failed to attract any Boston College students.
A group of elderly men founded DLP in Washington, DC, in 1986. They hoped to establish an accepting social organization that hadn't during their own college years.
The nation's first official gay fraternity, DLP, now boasts 19 chapters nationwide, including one in Boston founded in 2000. In the past four years, national enrollment in DLP has doubled to 1,500 members.
The Boston chapter does not affiliate itself with one school, preferring to act as an all-university, community-based organization. According to David O'Grady, president of DLP's Boston Chapter, the frat has a mainstay of support at the Fenway schools, like Boston University, Emerson, and Massachusetts Institute of Art.
The McElroy flyers are part of a new effort to reach out to schools on the outskirts of Boston, such as BC, Harvard, and Tufts.
Like most fraternities, DLP stresses the importance of camaraderie, service, and support. Each new pledge class is required to take up a community service project.
"We provide an environment where you can be with other guys without any pressure. So many LGBT groups are support-based, or activist-based. But we also offer a friendship that can be really hard to find," said David O'Grady, president of DLP's Boston Chapter.
O'Grady said common suspicions about the group can sometimes hamper its ability to attract new members. O'Grady denied that DLP fraternities has any ulterior motives for assembling students based on their sexuality, or that it acts a dating service for its members.
"[That image] is completely understandable. It's a stigma that's going to follow us around until there is that societal change, which isn't going to happen anytime soon," he said. "We have policies in place to keep this from becoming a sex group. We don't promote that."
BC's Office of the Dean of Student Development (ODSD) prohibits off-campus groups from posting flyers on campus. DLP brothers posted the flyers without permission, giving ODSD the option of taking down the flyers and taking action against the guilty parties.
"ODSD has regulations that prohibit off-campus groups from putting up flyers. They need to get ODSD approval," said Dean for Student Development Robert Sherwood, who stressed that the nature of the club was not at issue.
O'Grady defended the brothers' actions. DLP members specifically posted the flyers in hallways that already contained flyers advertising non-BC related activities in order to avoid a negative reaction from the administration, explained O'Grady.
"[The brothers] found a few spots where we saw other advertisements that weren't BC-related. We weren't aware of any regulations," he said.
Those flyers most likely advertised a BC band playing an off-campus gig, or were also put up illegally.
DLP success depends on effectively communicating to students, O'Grady explained, and obtaining school permission for flyers can be difficult, especially at new territory like BC.
"Until we establish a relationship with a school it can be hard to get permission, so we are in a difficult position," said O'Grady
"We want to promote our cause without overstepping our boundaries. We are very careful with how we go about increasing awareness; we don't want to make a big ruckus," he added.
Be the first to comment on this article!