Gay Fraternity Expects To Gain Official Status At University Of Arizona

TUCSON, ARIZONA - Delta Lambda Phi has been around the University of Arizona campus since the early '90s.
But by the end of this year, it expects to gain official status from the UA's Interfraternity Council as the institution's first official gay fraternity.
The UA has 25 fraternities with about 1,200 members. Some are for specific minority groups such as Latinos or American Indians. But Delta Lambda Phi would be the first based around sexual orientation - it's for "gay, bisexual and progressive" men.
For Dan Churgin, Delta Lambda Phi means a chance to get back in the Greek system.
Churgin pledged a UA fraternity as a freshman, but by then, he already knew he was gay and had second thoughts about it. The 20-year-old junior ultimately decided not to go through with initiation.
"I didn't feel comfortable," he said. "I wasn't out and I knew it would be more difficult to come out being in the fraternity than if I wasn't there."
But now he's back in the UA Greek system as one of seven members of Delta Lambda Phi. The fraternity is gearing up this week for "rush" - where fraternities and sororities hold events to form a new pledge class.
Another rush is scheduled for February and Delta Lambda Phi expects to have 25 to 30 members by the end of the school year.
In July, Arizona State University's Sigma Phi Beta gay fraternity became the first national, collegiate-based organization of its kind in the country.
from AZ Central