Sororities at the University of Alabama have unanimously turned away a membership application from a transgender student.
Student Grant Sikes said on social media that he applied to join the sororities, but none of them accepted. Sikes took to TikTok to make the announcement, according to Outkick, a post that was viewed millions of times.
The sororities rejected the idea of a biological male attempting to join.
“Unfortunately, this chapter is closed,” Sikes noted on Instagram. “This recruitment journey is over for me. Being dropped from my last house this morning during primary recruitment at the University of Alabama doesn’t come as a surprise considering out of the almost 20 chapters – I was dropped by every single one except 2 before day 1.”
“I’m hopeful of a future where everyone is welcomed for just being themselves – everywhere,” he continued. “If you are going through a hard time today, remember that life is too short to ponder on the things lost. Choose happiness & always look for the positive things throughout life. Move on. See the good. See the bad. Hope for the best. Brave the worst.”
But sports commentator and talk host Clay Travis, who initially founded Outkick, pushed back.
“Roll Tide. Good for them for standing up to this absurdity. Good for the women at the University of Alabama for the people who are advising them; for them being willing to stand up, to be called ‘transphobic’ or whatever you want to say. I can’t believe I have to say this: Men should not be able to be members of Alabama sororities,” Travis said.
“And by the way, if you are a straight guy living in a sorority house, surrounded by smoking hot chicks, not the worst thing,” he added in a quip. “If you were a straight guy at the University of Alabama and you were an undergrad, and you got the opportunity to live in a sorority house, that’s cooking with grease. That’s pretty smart.”
In 2016, Tufts University sorority Alpha Omicron Pi offered to accept 19-year-old Harper Hopkins, a biological male, though the national office was hesitant to offer the membership. After hearing about it, Cosmopolitan Magazine published a story that blasted the sorority as “inherently transphobic.”
“The international sorority later apologized for hesitating and approved Hopkins’ membership. Alpha Omicron Pi’s interim president, Amanda Wisti, stated that the sorority’s policy change on transgender students included changing ‘woman’ to ‘female-identifying,'” The Daily Wire added.
