TO THE EDITOR:
This letter is in response to an article written about Greek policies towards LGBT inclusivity and a letter pressing for LGBT-inclusive policy change in the Greek community. While I agree with both, LGBT students should not feel that the entire Greek community is homophobic.
The article glossed over St. Anthony Hall, a literary and arts fraternity that is UNC’s second oldest Greek institution and was a founding member of the Interfraternity Council at UNC. St. Anthony Hall has a long history of inclusiveness, making national headlines for being the first historically white male fraternity to accept people of color and then women.
In this spirit, St. Anthony Hall was also the first Greek organization here to accept openly LGBT people. It has long been an institution in the queer landscape at UNC, having had transgender members for decades and serving as a haven from gaybashing in the ‘80s and ‘90s. With perhaps a dozen openly queer undergraduate members (myself included), the Hall today continues to be a very LGBT-friendly space. It recently hosted a “Dungeons and Drag” party, began to ask for preferred gender pronouns at rush events and added the title “Sibling” to the ranks of “Brother and Sister.”
Greek institutions have and can be inclusive spaces on campus, and I call on the Greek community to engage in critical self-reflection on the topic. Additionally, the queer community should not alienate itself from Greek life and should engage in critical conversation to effect positive change.
Christian Haig
President
Saint Anthony Hall
