For the past nine years, Pride Union has proudly presented the Totally Fabulous Drag Show series. Every year we grow the show, improve and educate through a night of celebration. One of our goals this year was to have a larger educational component to the show. This included the traditional condom distribution on stage, as well as tables with educational information on them. Now it is time to educate The Daily Orange. The piece titled ‘Alter ego: Drag kings and queens switch gender roles with dynamic, comedic performances’ was highly offensive to the many students involved in performing, running and attending the show. First of all, the use of ‘tranny’ is highly derogatory. It should never be used. Second, there is a difference between the terms ‘transsexual,’ ‘transgender’ and ‘drag performer.’ Drag queens and kings are not ‘trannies.’ Drag is a cultural form of expression in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and allied community. The word ‘drag’ is used to describe clothing and makeup used for performing or entertaining as a hostess or host, stage artist or at an event. It seems like year after year, The D.O. likes to report on LGBTQA issues and events on campus without any regard to actually understanding what it is that you are covering. Also, I know that Lauren Tousignant picked up the story last minute. We, as Pride Union executive board members representing all LGBTQA individuals and our allies on campus, are highly offended by the arrogance, ignorance and disrespect with which The D.O. reported on the drag show. Although I was the organizer for the drag show, Lauren did not come to me for comments. She also did not approach anyone else on the Pride Union e-board. In the article, Lauren did not quote anyone involved in the show except for Miss Pandora Boxx. Seeing as this is one of many times that The D.O. has run a story with derogatory, wrong, misinformed, transphobic or plain homophobic information on LGBTQA events, Pride Union feels as though this issue needs to be addressed immediately. We ask that the staff of The D.O. undergo Ally Development training before covering future events, since there are many sensitive issues within our community. We feel as though this is in the best interest for both parties involved in this manner. Pride Union has been striving to be a stronger advocate for the Syracuse University and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry LGBTQA communities, and this letter is just one of the ways that we advocate.

We hope we can resolve this issue.

Nicholas A. Haas

Outreach coordinator and financial officer for Pride Union

Junior environmental resources engineering major