Delta Lambda Phi Social Fraternity, North America’s oldest and largest fraternity for gay, bisexual, transgender, and nonbinary individuals issued the following statement today in support of the protest actions currently happening across the country:
“A riot is the language of the unheard” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The modern incarnation of LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations and the corresponding liberation movement began with protests that became violent after continued police harassment.
What we now call Stonewall inspired powerful changes in American society, led by Black and brown drag queens and trans people tired of that harassment . Those changes created the opportunity for our founder, Vernon L. Strickland, III, to found Delta Lambda Phi Social Fraternity. Delta Lambda Phi owes its existence to not only Stonewall, but to the civil rights movement preceding it.
Therefore, it is incumbent upon our organization to live out our mission, vision, and values: we must support our community efforts against the current and historical police brutality which disproportionately and egregiously continues to affect our Black and Brown siblings.
Black Lives Matter. We strongly affirm the right of Black people to rise up against anti-Black racism, white supremacy, and oppression. The protection of the rights, freedoms, and existence of our Black citizens should be centered and uplifted in all discussions of the justified acts of protest across our nation. We uplift and support our Black brothers and fellow citizens. We call upon all our white and non-Black brothers to stand in solidarity with the protestors in whatever ways they are able and challenge those Brothers to always be vocal in the face of injustice.
Justice is one of Delta Lambda Phi’s core values. Amidst the growing challenges our humanity faces, we need to ensure justice is accessible to everyone equitably, especially those who have always been least able to access it. Furthermore, we understand that as a brotherhood, we have at times maintained and upheld the systemic racist ideas and cultural norms of white supremacy ever present within LGBTQ society, and the society at large. We continue and reenergize our efforts to dismantling these systems wherever we find them, including within our ranks.