Nonbinary honor student welcomed into university’s sorority, then kicked out by national HQ
http://nypost.com/2023/06/28/nonbinary-student-kicked-out-of-chi-omega-sorority-by-national-hq/
By Allie Griffin
The New York Post
June 28, 2023
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A nonbinary honor student who was accepted into a sorority at their private upstate New York college was later kicked out by its national headquarters reportedly over their identity in what the student alleged was an act of discrimination.
St. Lawrence University student Fabián “Fa” Guzmán, 22, said they were completely heartbroken when the Chi Omega national office informed them that it was revoking their membership at the beginning of Pride Month with no option to appeal the decision.
“The selection criteria in the policy on membership includes ‘females and individuals identifying as women,’ which, by the chapter’s own understanding and your indication through the process, it is clear you did not meet the criteria at the time of joining,” Guzmán said the national headquarters told them.
They launched a Change.org petition Monday demanding Chi Omega reinstate their membership as their chapter sisters are all in support of them being a member.
Guzmán said they had been approved by their university and the national organizations of multiple sorority chapters on campus — including the Chi Omega HQ — to rush as a nonbinary person so the reversal came as a shock.
They decided to pledge with Chi Omega as many of its sisters had been supportive and inclusive of them when they were going through a difficult time at school, they told 19th News.
After officially pledging in the fall of 2022, the first-generation college student thrived in the sorority and was quickly chosen to be the chapter’s recruitment chair for the upcoming fall semester.
Guzmán’s success at breaking barriers and succeeding as a leader on campus caught the attention of the university which wanted to write a feature about their sorority membership for the alumni magazine.
But, according to the ex-sorority sister, Chi Omega’s national office was afraid of the publicity in an increasingly polarizing time in which LGBTQ+ communities are under attack from ‘anti-woke’ and major brands have faced backlash for partnering with anyone who is not straight and cisgender.
“The national organization threatened to revoke my membership if we went public with the story,” Guzmán wrote in their petition. “They then required me to partake in a two-step process of gender-based eligibility process that I was never privy to prior, and in the end, the CEO of Chi Omega voided my membership without the ability to appeal.”
They said they were kicked out of the sorority because of their sex assigned at birth.
“Chi Omega’s reactionary void of my membership was blatant transphobia and bigotry,” Guzmán alleged.
Despite being “extremely hurt” by the headquarters’ decision, they still want to be back with their sisters in the local chapter in their last semester before graduation.
“It’s just really hard because I’ve given my heart and soul to the sorority because I love it,” they said in an Instagram video. “I love my sisters, I love my sisterhood. I love the chapter history. I love everything [about it].”
Guzmán added that they have no desire to make Greek life co-ed or invade safe spaces for women.
All they want is “to feel we belong” in a group that supports and validates them.
“The times have changed and people like me, nonbinary people and trans people deserve to be part of an organization where they feel they belong — regardless of [where] society wants to put them,” they said in the video.
Chi Omega’s national headquarters told 19th News that it made the decision because Guzmán didn’t meet membership requirements.
“In accordance with our governing documents, Chi Omega’s Executive Headquarters recently made the decision to void the membership of an Epsilon Kappa Chapter member at St. Lawrence University,” it said in a statement. “By their own admission, this individual did not meet the criteria for membership at the time of joining.”
Guzmán’s chapter sisters at St. Lawrence University are working to bring a new proposal that would allow nonbinary people to join the sorority to the Chi Omega convention next year, according to Newsweek.
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