By Elianna Novitch
Alpha Chi Omega will now start accepting transgender women to its organization after an announcement by national President Angela Costley Harris last month.
Harris announced in a video message that the sorority will now accept members “who live and identify as women, regardless of their gender assigned at birth.”
This inclusive announcement has motivated the local University of Iowa Zeta Tau Alpha chapter to write a letter to its national leadership backing following Alpha Chi Omega’s lead and making membership policies more inclusive.
Local Zeta Tau Alpha member Rachel Zuckerman drafted the letter and collected 54 signatures in support.
“I’ve been thinking about speaking out about this for a long time, but after Alpha Chi Omega’s announcement, I felt re-inspired to encourage [Zeta Tau Alpha] to make the change as well,” Zuckerman wrote in an email statement to *The Daily Iowan*. “The fraternity and sorority life community should always be striving to find ways to be more inclusive, and this is one change that brings us closer to congruence with our values.”
Alpha Chi Omega joined several other greek organizations that accept transgender women as members, including Kappa Kappa Gamma, Delta Gamma, Sigma Sigma Sigma, Gamma Rho Lambda, and Delta Lambda Phi.
In the letter, Zuckerman notes that any inclusive changes made to the Zeta Tau Alpha membership policy would align with Title IX laws and would not threaten the status of the group as a women’s organization.
The hope behind sending the letter is to start a conversation about inclusiveness in the organization on a national level. In the letter, Zuckerman encourages national leadership to reach out to other college members to hear their opinions on the issue.
“[Zeta Tau Alpha] should be a place for all women who want to grow as individuals, serve their community, and experience sisterhood,” Zuckerman said in the letter. “When selecting new members, we should be looking to see if those people share the beliefs prescribed in our creed and rituals, rather than their gender assigned at birth.”
Zeta Tau Alpha publicly replied to Zuckerman’s letter via Twitter on Monday.
“Thank you for your thoughtful note,” the tweet said. “ZTA recognizes this as an important topic; it’s top of mind for the org & its leaders.”
A previous version of this story did not include Gamma Rho Lambda and Delta Lambda Phi as organizations that accept transgender members.
