Last night Phi Delta Theta alumnus Shane Windmeyer spoke to an audience of nearly 100 students on overcoming the obstacles and barriers gays and lesbians face within the greek community.
"You should be able to take something away that will help you understand and support the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community," said Windmeyer, who attended school in Kansas.
Windmeyer is the founder of the Lambda 10 Project--the National Clearinghouse for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Fraternity and Sorority Issues.
One of the pressing questions Windmeyer focused his lecture around was, "What would you do if your best friend told you he or she was gay/lesbian?"
Throughout the course of the evening, Windmeyer used various examples and stories from his own life, and the lives of others, to demonstrate how fraternities and sororities can be supportive of its gay and lesbian members.
"It was my brothers who encouraged me to write my story," Windmeyer said. "We're not here to judge; we're not here to point fingers."
To the surprise of Spectrum president, Gary Nelson, there was a large turn out of fraternity men.
As part of the lecture, Windmeyer used audience volunteers to figure out the campus GPA, not to be mistaken with grade point average, but as gay point average.
"This is to help bring out the stereotypes and lighten the mood," Windmeyer said.
Windmeyer proceeded by asking several questions such as, 'How many gays are OUT there?' 'Why do gays join fraternities?' and 'How often do gays encounter hate and homophobia?'
Windmeyer said five percent of the college population is gay, therefore in a fraternity of 100 men, at least five are gay or bisexual.
Gay/lesbian and bisexual men and women join fraternities and sororities for the same reason straight people join--for the social aspect, the friendship and the camaraderie.
Windmeyer said he was lucky to belong to a supportive fraternity where he never had to deal with harassment. He stressed how important it is for men and women to realize what they say and do in regards to gays and lesbians. Their statements can be discouraging and degrading to those who are considering "coming out of the closet."
The audience was silent during most of Windmeyer's presentation but laughed in the nessecary situations.
Nelson said Windmeyer's message was pioneering.
"It was nice to see some one out in a fraternity to say 'here I am.'"--2)+â-Ç**FShane WindmeyerDNEditorial--2SORT+â-¦+â-ä2AUDT
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