I want to respond to the article in the Monday, Oct. 21 issue of the East Tennessean. Ericka, darling, ever done any research on the gender variant community before you assumed what you wrote was fact and not the fiction you published?
It was, by the way, two drag queens that started the Stonewall riots that kicked off the gay revolution; do you know their names? Do you know the difference between a male to female transsexual and a drag queen or the difference between those two and a crossdresser? You seem to call them all drag queens, which they are not.
Before you warn and advise, you should research first and understand the subject you’re attempting to talk about or the implications you’re making towards others that your lack of research has brought into a misconception that was published.
The facts – about 99 percent of drag queens are gay males, they dress to entertain; on the other hand, crossdressers are comprised of about 92 percent heterosexual males (females are not considered crossdressers because women wear what they want and no one objects).
Of the over 400 drag queens I have interviewed, only one was straight, and she traveled with her wife and children. The money she earns goes to fight multiple sclerosis.
The transsexual male to female and female to male on the other hand is a mixture of about the same sexual orientation as the overall population, a mix of heterosexual, bi-sexual and homosexuals.
Add in the remainder of the gender variant community and there is a diverse population that are all unique unto themselves.
Females who are the opposite of the drag queens, drag kings, are entertainers but mostly they live as males, unlike the drag queens, who will be a male again in the morning when they to go to work or school.
You did not mention the children who are born as hermaphrodites before our medical community mutilates them at birth. They just want a normal life but society wants conformity. Some undergo the same procedure as female circumcision in third world countries – the same procedure that our medical community condemns overseas.
Let’s not leave out the minor members of this community, the impersonators, they dress as the opposite sex to entertain only, nothing but a paycheck for this group.
Now to drive the point home. I am a transsexual (intersexed to a degree), I am the woman I live as, nothing more or less, and I am not a drag queen!!!
I take offense to you calling a human being a creature, they are no more a creature than any member of your family is. They are humans and should be afforded the same respect all humans should.
For your information, J. Edgar Hoover, former head of the FBI, was a crossdresser who dressed in private, not a drag queen (who will you insult next?) who went out to entertain.
You mentioned lines from Shakespeare. Do you know his connection with the term drag queen?
Lea LaFluer

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