Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc has reportedly become the second Black fraternity to institute a ban on transgender members. The ban follows a debate at the fraternity’s annual convention and a subsequent voting and approval process.
It is yet unclear how the ban will be enforced, how many active members it applies to and whether it will only apply to new members or current members. Eric Webb, the director of communications for Alpha Phi Alpha, said, “We have no comment,” when reached by the Guardian.
According to Glaad, Alpha Phi Alpha’s ban comes about seven years after Phi Beta Sigma, another Black fraternity, passed their own ban against transgender members. While Phi Beta Sigma did not respond to a request for comment, the Guardian found that multiple chapters’ bylaws include verbiage that limits membership to “natural-born males who identify as such”. Glaad reported that Phi Beta Sigma’s ban came after the organization accepted its first transgender member.
A representative from Glaad told the Guardian: “It is unfortunate that an organization birthed from the historical exclusion of the majority of its members from non-Black Greek-letter organizations based upon race is committed to creating an environment where potential Black transgender and queer Alphas, and those already within their ranks, feel less safe and are further marginalized.”
The Alpha Phi Alpha ban comes despite the fraternity’s decision last year to move their annual convention to Chicago from Florida in protest of Ron DeSantis’s “harmful, racist and insensitive policies against the Black community”.
“Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc has an unmatched legacy of social justice, advocacy, and leadership for the Black community,” the general president, Dr Willis L Lonzer III, said in his 2023 statement.
“In this environment of manufactured division and attacks on the Black community, Alpha Phi Alpha refuses to direct a projected $4.6 million convention economic impact to a place hostile to the communities we serve. Although we are moving our convention from Florida, Alpha Phi Alpha will continue to support the strong advocacy of Alpha Brothers and other advocates fighting against the continued assault on our communities in Florida by Governor Ron DeSantis.”
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc is the US’s oldest Black intercollegiate fraternity, with members including Martin Luther King Jr, WEB DuBois and Dick Gregory.
