Your Turn Letters to the Editor

Drag Ball Disappointment

On November 17th, Colleen McDavid published an article in the Commonwealth Times that previewed Queer Action’s “Drag Ball.” As president and co-founder of Queer Action, I appreciated the advanced publicity for the event. However, McDavid’s language, word choice and style were not only problematic – they were downright offensive. The CT published an extremely brief correction on November 21st, but I feel it was inadequate, and therefore it is necessarily to expound on this.

First of all, the LGBT community (which should include a “Q” for “queer” and “questioning”) was incorrectly defined in the article as “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transvestite.” That “T” actually stands for “transgender.” This mistake exemplifies the pandemic ingorance on our campus with respect to the lives of – and issues affecting – transgender individuals.

Transgender can broadly be defined as “transcending conventional gender norms.” These norms are rigidly defined for us at birth and tell us what should (in the eyes of many in our society) constitute normative masculinity and femininity. Transgender people defy these norms beautifully. I’ll define a few terms used to describe people who fall under the umbrella-category of “transgender”:

* Transsexual. A term for individuals who identify with a gender other than that which they were assigned at birth. Transsexuals sometimes, but not always, utilize hormonal and/or surgical therapies to alter their gender expression.

* Cross-Dressers. These are individuals who dress in clothing that is normally associated with a gender other than that which they were assigned at birth (e.g., an assigned male individual wearing a dress and high-heeled shoes). This individual may not necessarily identify with the gender associated with the clothing he/she/zie is wearing. He/she/zie may cross-dress all the time or only occasionally.

* Drag Queen/King. This is an individual who dresses in clothing normally associated with a gender other than that which they were assigned at birth. This is often done in a performance setting. It is important to remember that not all drag queens/kings identify as transgender, but some do.

There are also a whole host of other terms used by people who generally live their lives outside of gender norms. Some of these include butch, fem, dyke, gender-queer and gender-fluid, just to name a few.

McDavid also completely misquoted me. Never would I say “I hope it increases awareness about people who dress in drag and helps start a movement on campus to have policies protecting transgenders and other gays.” First of all, I made the statement to McDavid that I hope the events of the week (including a gender-neutral bathroom revolution and memorial for transgender victims of hate crimes) would call attention to the lives of transgender people on campus. I welcome anyone on campus who does decide to dress in drag, but that was not the focus on my statement to McDavid.

Secondly, transgender individuals (“transgenders” is not an appropriate use of the word) are not the same as “gays.” Transgender relates to one’s gender identity and expression; gay relates to one’s sexual orientation. Transgender people can be any sexual orientation – gay, straight, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, whatever.

A final thing that needs to be corrected is McDavid’s statement that the Fan Free Clinic’s Transgender Clinic offers “hormones and genital examinations” to transgender patients. Genital examination? I definitely said “primary care services” when I was interviewed for this article. Primary care includes screenings like Pap smears and testicular exams, but it also includes anything for which you would see a physician (blood pressure screenings, HIV and other STD testing, etc.).

Lastly, it should definitely be noted that I received a quick reply from the CT editor Erin Whalen, who was extremely apologetic for the inaccurate preview. She, along with writer Christine Maddox, wrote a terrific article in the Monday, November 28th issue of the CT about the Drag Ball. This article was extremely articulate, interesting and entertaining. I hope that in the future, reporters will follow the lead of Whalen and Maddox and promote accurate, respectful journalism when covering LGBTQ events and issues at VCU.

– Jeremy Kidd

President, Queer Action

Editor’s reply: We regret the error in the original article, and we are pleased to know that the second article met your satisfaction. As the length of your letter shows, these issues can be complex to navigate for the outside observer. We always strive for accuracy in our reporting. Please let us know if we err in the future, and we will make it right in the space we have available.