U. of Oregon frats open doors to anyone who 'self-identifies as male'

At the start of this semester, Delta Tau Delta became the second fraternity at the University of Oregon to accept transgender members, joining the school’s Delta Upsilon chapter.

According to The Daily Emerald, DU already had such a policy in place prior to this semester, in keeping with the “advancement of justice” called for in the national organization’s founding principles.

“One of our founding principles is the advancement of liberal culture,” explained DU vice president of Loss Prevention Henry Korman, adding that while the chapter’s ranks do not currently include any trans men, “It is really important to allow anyone who identifies as male to be in the fraternity.”

DTD member Zach Lusby offered a similar justification, saying, “one of the driving elements in our fraternity is that we value excellence, and we would lose a lot of good men if we excluded transmen.”

DTD announced its new policy via Twitter on February 2, saying that “as of January 2016, @DeltaTauDelta welcomes transgender members,” and adding, “Can’t wait to see our family grow!”

DU responded several days later with a tweet congratulating DTD “for joining us in welcoming trans men into their chapter,” and boasting that “together we’ll be a force for change in @UOfsl [Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life].”

Whereas the DU chapter decided on its own initiative to add “gender” to the non-discrimination policy promulgated by the national leadership, DTD’s reform was mandated from above.

The DTD International Fraternity states on its website that members voted during the Annual Meeting in January to expand the organization’s non-discrimination policy, which had previously disavowed “inappropriate or illegal discrimination” in very general terms.

The new policy elaborates that the fraternity “does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity,” and even asserts explicitly that “Delta Tau Delta is open to all men of superior character including transgender males.”

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