Saturday, March 16, 2002

Pledges to Cops: "We're Gay, Not Greek!"


Pitt Police responded to its second complaint in three months from the Bates Hill apartment of Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) member Matt Lynman. Police were called to the scene Thursday night after neighbors reported groaning and screaming from next door. Pitt Police arrived to find 13 men huddled together in the bathroom wearing nothing but boxer shorts underwear.

This scene was remarkably similar to a November 29th incident where university police found four men gathered together in the bathroom and one man with a weight hanging from his arm. At that time, Lynman denied any fraternal hazing, claiming that they were friends who were "just messing around."

Lynman and AEPi are once again denying hazing charges, this time claiming the 13 men were engaged in homosexual practices.

"We're not Greek, we're gay," Lynman reported. "This was a 100% sexually oriented activity taking place in the bathroom. There was no hazing of any kind going on. The screaming that was heard was the pleasure occurring from anal copulation and oral pleasure. This was not a fraternity event."

Pitt Police let Lynman and the 13 other men go with another warning and advised the men that they should take their sexual relations to the Schenley Park oval in the future.

While Pitt Police were convinced of the group's story, Inter-Fraternity Council president Bill O'Ryan was not as easily persuaded. "I really would love Lynman to come out of the closet and admit he is Greek. But right now, it’s just not socially acceptable to be Greek, and this kind of hiding and shame is a by-product of that social stigma. We really need to stand up for our rights as fraternity members and let the whole city know, 'I'm Matt, I'm frat.'"

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