a
brief history of Delta Lambda Phi...
(taken from the diary of DLP founder, Vernon L. Strickland III)
In late October of 1986, I met three older gay gentlemen during the course of a large Washington DC party. Conversation drifted from topic to topic and the issue of social groups and gathering was discussed. These gentlemen expressed regret that alternative social organizations had not been available during their formative years. I was quick to note that current circumstances were not much improved. While many clubs existed, most were primarily motivated toward political or service goals. The few social groups that did exist seemed to suffer from internal division, deviant activities, or lax membership standards.
By happenstance, all four of us had attended college and participated in extracurricular activities; however, only I had been a fraternity member. I'm not sure if they understood the Fraternity experience that I relayed, but we talked of many things that night.
Some weeks later, one of the gentlemen contacted me and proposed an extraordinary venture: to create a progressive social fraternity based on the collegiate model. He and his friends agreed to supply the initial funding if I would do the work necessary to create such a group. I was dubious. It was obvious that creating a nationwide organization would require a great deal of both time and effort. However, a month later, I accepted the position of trustee.
I took a temporary residence in Georgetown during December of that year to concentrate on the project and to lay the initial groundwork for the organization. During this period, the crest design, the selection of the centaur as the fraternity mascot and the generation of the ritual were completed.
My powers as trustee, outside of the creation of the fraternity ritual, were limited by the gentlemen providing the financial support. I was only permitted to spend money provided to me, and I could only recommend, not select, the pledge class membership.
With the arrival of the new year, I began making arrangements to recruit the first Delta Lambda Phi pledge class. I arranged to hold a rush event at TRACKS, a local gay club, placed advertisements in the local community paper, and canvassed the bars, handing out invitations. On February 20, 1987, one hundred and fifty people came to what was a very successful rush party.
[... leading to the creation of the three founding chapters of Delta Lambda Phi.]