cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/3044141

Alpha Phi Alpha, the oldest historically Black fraternity in the U.S., has reportedly moved to ban transgender members, a decision that has caused a rift between the older members that make up the organization’s national leadership and its younger general body and collegiate and alumni chapter leadership, according to GLAAD.

so the classic case of bigoted elders vs more progressive youth. i'm guessing the organizational structure of Alpha Phi Alpha (like a lot of other organizations) constrict the democratic will of its members to its local communities.

On July 15, a day after the convention concluded, GLAAD reported that delegates had “overwhelmingly” voted in favor of the proposed change, which now faces voting and approval by individual chapters and the fraternity’s general body.

ig individual chapters being involved in the voting process will at least limit or slow down the removal of trans people...

Alpha Phi Alpha’s trans ban also reportedly follows a March letter written by 16 members urging the organization’s national and regional leadership to “express public support for Alphas and men who are part of the GBTQ+ communities during Pride month and World AIDS Day,” to adopt more inclusive language in its official documents, and to define membership as being for “​​any cisgender man, transgender man, and/or nonbinary student who identifies with upholding the ‘manly deed’ principles of the fraternity.”

and then the organization's leadership try to pinkwash it with letters of support for queer people. like huh??

“Their decision to alienate trans and nonbinary people from membership is reactionary, asinine, and unbecoming of an organization with a professed commitment to human rights,” Deandre Miles-Hercules, an Alpha member who uses they/them pronouns told GLAAD. “It’s ludicrous to be the fraternity of Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King Jr. and come up with a policy that bans trans people.”

“It’s not surprising to me that there are transphobic sentiments within the organization — because I’ve experienced it,” Miles-Hercules added. “But it is surprising that the organizational leadership would move forward with attempting to enshrine it in organization policy in the year 2024. That doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“Trans men are men,” one Philadelphia-based member said. “I just feel like at the end of the day, if you identify as a man and you want to be in fellowship with other men, then you should be allowed to. It doesn’t sit well with me that a white man can be a member of Alpha, this historic Black institution, with no problem, but we’re going to tell Black trans men that they can’t. We’ve got all types of men in this fraternity, so to me, that’s how I look at it. It’s just another type of man.”

really good point. a historically black organisation admitting white people but not black trans people is literally white privilege in play.

On Monday, the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) condemned the move.

Noting Phi Beta Sigma 2017 policy, Johns [NBJC CEO and executive director] wrote that both fraternities’ efforts at trans exclusion fly in the face of their history of advocating for civil rights and social justice. “By seeking to exclude transgender people, these fraternities are turning their backs on the very principles of brotherhood and inclusivity that they were founded upon and are a betrayal of the legacy of activism and leadership that these organizations have upheld for over a century,” Johns wrote.

“Such policies and exclusionary practices perpetuate harmful stereotypes and further marginalize individuals who already face significant barriers and discrimination in society, and send a dangerous message that it is acceptable to ostracize and discriminate against individuals based on their gender identity,” he continued. “These politics and practices are tools of white supremacy and the white racial actors who elect to do their bidding. Our transgender siblings deserve the same respect, dignity, and opportunities as non-trans members of our community.”

imo a lack of democratic structure and intersectionality would be the main causes of this decision. establishment parties have also had no complaints in shifting right on trans rights so maybe this is just that lack of intersectionality revealing itself.

all members of an organisation should have a say on its policies and how its defined; and liberation of ethnic minorities does indeed include our trans comrades!