I mean, it doesn't happen every day that one of my best friends tells me he likes dudes. Once the always-chatty girlfriends knew, all hope of secrecy was lost. And in reality, I really didn't want to be secret about it. It had taken me five years to realize that there was nothing wrong with me, to understand the cyclical and dangerous nature of silence and homophobia. The American fraternity has no place for political correctness.
People say what they want, when they want.
Many of my brothers were accustomed to having a free rein on speech, and they had never been given a reason to edit what they said. Because I was their friend, the last thing most wanted to do was insult me. Still, while I never encountered homophobia to my face, things certainly changed. My honesty may have brought me closer to my best friends in the house, but it pushed me further from those whom I barely knew. I wasn't the only gay brother in my fraternity, but I was the only one who had fully come to terms with it and was prepared to be open about it.