In fall 2002, Joe Zagame (junior-psychology) pledged Kappa Alpha Order fraternity, 234 E. Beaver Ave., like many other freshmen. Zagame's experience, though, was a little different than most and during the next year he would be subjected to some of the most difficult and rewarding moments of his life.

Zagame decided to tell other fraternity members that he was gay -- and they supported him.

But Zagame is not alone in his apprehensiveness about balancing his sexuality with his social life, as the words "gay" and "greek" are rarely heard in the same sentence.

Now, voices that have been silent on the issue for years have turned into whispers and those whispers into proud voices that have led to the beginning of change at Penn State. Zagame has joined others to form the Greek/LGBTA Initiative, a program to help foster communication and integration of the two communities.

While few statistics exist on why it seems there is such a clash between the two groups, many offer speculations.

"There are a couple groups that tend to be more homophobic on campus, and I think the greek system is one of them," said Allies President Christy Merchant.

Allies is a student organization that supports the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered (LGBT) community.

Brian Bertges, president of the Interfraternity Council, blames a lot of the negative image of greek views concerning homosexuality on the media, adding that "the greek community hasn't done anything specific to cause that stereotype to exist."

Whatever the opinion, there are a number of people around campus who are working to help these two worlds better understand one another. Some are LGBTA, some are greek.

Some say there is little problem with integrating the two communities and some simply wouldn't comment.

"I already knew I was gay, but I didn't really come to terms with it until I made it into the fraternity," Zagame said about his freshman-year pledging experience.

Fearing a negative reaction from his fraternity, Zagame kept his sexual orientation a secret from other members for more than a year as he tried to better understand who he was and slowly come out to his close friends and family.

In fact, in an attempt to maintain a masculine heterosexual image, Zagame said he verbally bashed gay culture in front of his brothers.

By the beginning of his sophomore year, Zagame was living in the house and knew the truth had to come out. Fraternity members became suspicious of his behavior, and he couldn't keep the truth bottled inside any longer.

"I think if they hadn't known me already, they would have pushed me to the side," Zagame said of his coming out. "But because they did know me and because I was a friend, I think they became a little more open-minded with the situation."

Zagame expected the worst but said he was surprised when a majority of the other fraternity members supported his coming out and were very open to talking about it.

"Some people I actually became better friends with," he said. "It was such a personal thing that I told them and me coming out to them let them be totally honest with me. Others were uneasy with the situation. Some people were brought up believing homosexuality is wrong. ... Some were afraid to confront me and afraid of offending me."

Zagame continued to live in the house with the backing of a number of members all the way up until this semester, when he decided to study abroad in Italy.

Not all stories have as happy of an ending, though.

Spencer Unger (senior-hotel restaurant and institutional management) started his college career at the University of Montana, where he joined its chapter of Sigma Chi fraternity. Unger had had physical experiences with men from age 13, but didn't come to terms with his sexual orientation until he was 20, when he started coming out to his family and friends.

Around the same time, the Maryland native transferred to Penn State and moved into the Sigma Chi house, 400 E. Prospect Ave. He kept his sexuality a secret.

"I kept it pretty much to myself," he said. "I went home a lot because I didn't want to stay here on weekends and just tried to avoid being around the house as much as possible. I didn't want to come out to them, but I wanted to live my life."

Despite Unger's attempts to not disclose his homosexuality to other members, word got out.

Although he could not offer a detailed explanation, Unger said he felt too awkward to continue living in the house. This year he moved into an apartment with his partner.

Unger added that although contact with fraternity members has been limited since he left the house, everyone he has bumped in to has tried to get him to come back.

"They tell me everything's cool and everyone is okay with me," he said. "I've been hesitant because I just feel weird about it. I just came to the realization that this was not the place for me at this time in my life. I needed to move on."

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After Zagame's experience with coming out to his fraternity, he completed an internship at the LGBTA Student Resource Center on campus. There, he helped start up the Greek/LGBTA Initiative.

"We wanted to create programs that would reach out to the greek community and help people who want to come out," he said. "I had the experience of coming out in a fraternity and I wanted to share my experience with others."

Bertges and other greek leaders have helped the Greek/LGBTA Initiative go from an idea to a reality by helping arrange presentations at new greek member orientation meetings and houses.

"Any group that approaches us that tries to get the word out about issues, we're more than welcome to work with them," he said. "If they need the resources, we can help out there as well. We work with people who want to work with us."

The initiative is made up of a few components, two of which are a periodic online chat and the Greek Straight Talks presentations, a sort of panel discussion about the LGBT community within the greek system.

The online chats are meant to answer any questions an LGBT or greek member -- or both -- might have or to facilitate discussion between the two communities. However, despite an e-mail sent out on the greek e-mail list advertising the discussion, not one student participated in the most recent session.

Despite a few bumps in the road, LGBTA resource center director Allison Subasic said she has seen a lot of improvement in her four years working at Penn State.

"I think there is a lot more involvement by students with campus initiatives," Subasic said, detailing the changes she's witnessed in her four years as director. "There had been a lot of distrust and unease after the events of The Village for a lot of different types of students on campus. There's also a lot more trust between the students and administration now."

The Village refers to the 2001 student sit-in at the HUB-Robeson Center that happened after racial tensions on campus.

She added that while the tensions between the two groups may cause concern for some, many greek organizations are accommodating to such issues.

"My impression is that a lot [of greek students] are closeted," she said. "There are some that are out, but it often seems to stay within the fraternity or sorority. ... There's sometimes a negative image about people coming out in fraternities but I think it goes both ways ... some [greek organizations] are very supportive."

Dina Liberatore, a graduate assistant at the resource center and former sorority member, said that it ultimately comes to what kind of image a fraternity or sorority wants to maintain.

"I think a lot of it has to do with reputation on campus and what type of reputation [fraternities and sororities] want to show," she said. "Greek life is not always very accepting of people who are different than what one might expect from a greek person. ... If one had a member come out as LGBT, it can affect recruitment and alumni relations."

The only thing seemingly rarer than an LGBT brother is an LGBT sister, Merchant said.

"That seems to be the case, which is odd, because girls ... seem to be much more accepting of the LGBT community," she said. "Sometimes I think it's a case where girls tend to talk more than do and guys do more than talk. Girls just may be afraid of being ostracized or cast out of this group of friends they've created."

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Not everyone helping the initiative is LGBT or university employed. Enter Jacob Wolf (junior-biobehavioral and health), Matt Factor (sophomore-premedicine) and Sara Ryan (senior-political science and African American studies).

All three are heterosexual but have devoted a large chunk of their Penn State careers to helping out the LGBT community. Wolf and Factor are greek -- both members of Theta Chi fraternity, 523 S. Allen St.

"You can be fired from a job in Pennsylvania because you're LGBT, and that pisses me off," Ryan said, citing that there is no legal protection from being fired in the state based on sexual orientation, except in government jobs. "I don't feel right living in a country that is supposed to be equal and fair to all when it's not."

Both Wolf and Factor are friends of Zagame and agreed to help continue the initiative while Zagame was away in Italy.

"We just want to show people that there's nothing wrong with being straight and wanting to help [the LGBT community], especially in a fraternity setting," Wolf said. "It's also a way to show that not all greeks fit the stereotype [of being homophobic]."

Their involvement with the initiative has been important to maintain a balance and keeping the greek community from being villainized.

"The whole initiative is based on trying to destroy two stereotypes, that being gay is wrong but also that fraternity men or sorority women don't accept homosexuality," Factor said.

All three said they had rarely been harassed by their peers for their work with the Greek/LGBTA Initiative and other LGBT-related campaigns.

"The only type of attention I've gotten is positive," Factor said. "Guys come up to me and are just like 'great presentation, guys.' "

Ryan said the only negative reaction she has ever gotten was from select members of the LGBT community.

"There were a few members who didn't like that position I was in," she said, referring to her role as Allies president last year. "It's a major issue whether a member of a majority group should lead a marginalized one. Otherwise, they've been very supportive and wonderful to me. I'm very appreciative that they allowed me to be their leader."

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Despite help from the powers that be, controversy still lingers and fingers are pointed.

For a few weeks, members inside and out of the LGBTA community waged a war of words over a letter to the editor sent in to The Daily Collegian by student Chris Kovalchick, a member of Delta Theta Sigma fraternity, 101 N. Patterson St.

In the letter, Kovalchick expressed strong disapproval of a photograph on the front page of the Collegian of gay couples kissing at an Allies-sponsored event.

According to Kovalchick's friend and president of Kovalchick's fraternity, Jeff Gorzkowski, Kovalchick has since received a vast amount of hate mail -- including threats -- as well as some supportive ones. The mistake many people have been making, Gorzkowski said, is the link people have been trying to make between Kovalchick's comments and the organizations to which he belongs.

"His opinion was that of his own and not the ideals of our organization or that of any other in the IFC," Gorzkowski said. "[He] should not be used as a scapegoat which he is starting to be used as now."

Gorzkowski added that although he supported his friend's actions, he believes Kovalchick could've been less offensive in its presentation.

He also said it's difficult to say whether the greek system's stigma of homophobia is real or not, but explains that a number of greeks come from particular backgrounds that may influence their personal views.

"People who join the fraternity system, especially a social fraternity, their ideals are very different from other people's," he said. "Us being an agricultural fraternity, most of our backgrounds are from the country ... we're very family-oriented ... we're just brought up that way."

So why would a LGBT person come to a school that some say has a heterosexist image? Zagame said they wouldn't.

"It's a greek and jock school," he said. "Most of the people who are gay at Penn State are the people who realized it after coming to this school. ... People who are out in high school are not usually going to go to a school that's like Penn State."