
Out.com – Traditionally, college Greeks are an archetypally masculine institution—about as butch as the Boy Scouts. Pledging a fraternity and being inducted as a brother is often an arduous process, one that is meant to separate the men from the boys. But where does the LGBTQ community fit into this macho niche? Much like the world of professional sports, the world of campus Greek life is not often heralded as the epitome of acceptance.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, which is what makes this story out of Emerson College particularly heartwarming: brothers in Emerson’s Alpha Chapter of Phi Alpha Tau have come together to raise funds for a new brother’s FTM top surgery (full disclosure: I’m a member of the PAT fraternity and currently a junior at Emerson).
Earlier this year, Visual & Media Arts sophomore Donnie Collins pledged as a prospective brother to Phi Alpha Tau, the nation’s oldest professional communicative arts fraternity. An Alexandria, Virginia native, Collins didn’t come out as transgender until age 17 while attending a boarding school in Windsor, Conn.
Collins now has a college health insurance policy through Emerson, a policy, like so many others, that is trans-exclusionary. In a time when his options were running out, Collins’s brothers in Phi Alpha Tau have rallied together to cover some of the surgery’s cost. Find their indiegogo fund here: Brothers of A Boston Fraternity – FTM: Top Surgery. The brothers’ fund has already surpassed the $2,000 they initially hoped to donate, but now they’re looking to cover even more of the procedure’s $8,100 cost.
The brothers’ site says that they hope less to raise money with their efforts and more to spread acceptance, brotherhood, and love. “We are here… to tell a story. The story of transformation, the story of self-discovery, and the story of brotherhood.”
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anybody pat themselves on the backs more than Phi Alpha Tau. Just over the moon about how great they are for helping their transgender brother become a sister. Good for you guys. I’m glad you’re helping him out. Anyway times, they are a changing. Used to be that frats raised money for keggers and strippers, no they’re raising money to turn dicks into vaginas. Hey, it’s 2013. This is the world we live in. Honestly if you wanna get a sex change I really have no problem with that. People should be free to be guys or girls or combos or whatever they want. And it’s cool that he’s got such good friends who want to help him buy a cock. But a dicks and balls are something that I feel like you should earn. Charity is great, but are you really gonna appreciate it as much if all the money is handed to you instead of working for it? When I was a kid and I wanted something, my dad made me go to work with him and put in hours before I could get a new video game or whatever. It taught me about working for something you want. There seems to be this trend in society today that anytime someone wants a sex change and they can’t pay for it, people are supposed to just hand it to them. For instance, Brown is paying for them for all students. It’s like the first stop on the road to new genitalia is supposed to be outside funding. Like I said, if you wanna flop genders than be my guest, but the right way to do it is through hard work and perseverance and paying for it on your own dime. Then and only then will you truly appreciate a penis.