Historic Sorority Bans Transgender Women

Zeta Phi Beta, begun in the 1920s at Howard University, specifically limits membership to cisgender women.

Neal Broverman

Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.

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Neal Broverman

April 25 2019 12:20 PM EST

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As historically Black colleges and universities make LGBTQ-positive inroads, a sorority is committed to sticking with the past.

Zeta Phi Beta, which has more than 100,000 members and over 800 chapters around the globe, enacted a policy earlier this year that states an "individual must be a cisgender woman" to join, according to the Washington Blade.

A copy of the sorority's "diversity statement" was obtained by the Blade, which tried unsuccessfully to reach sorority officials for comment.

Zeta Phi Beta has a long history; it was founded in 1920 at Washington, D.C.'s Howard University and quickly established itself among the nation's HBCUs. The sorority maintains a mission to effect "positive change" and "foster a greater sense of unity among its members," according the its website.

While few sororities and fraternities have established policies welcoming trans members, there are also few that specifically bar such individuals. Meanwhile, Atlanta's Morehouse University, a prominent all-male HBCU, announced this month that it is now admitting openly transgender students.

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