I stopped reading The Daily Orange last year after I realized the often problematic ways in which the newspaper covered lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning events. I was not surprised to hear about the troubling and disrespectful language in the article about Friday’s Pride Union drag show, but even I was taken aback by just how offensive this article truly was.

It is clear the writer of this article has no knowledge of the queer community or drag culture. As a fellow journalist, I’m very familiar with the time crunch that often makes detailed research difficult; however, this type of coverage is completely unacceptable, and I would hope that as editors of The D.O. you would hold your newspaper to a higher standard. In an attempt to make my anger toward your publication somewhat productive, I hope this letter is able to educate you and your staff.

To use the words ‘drag’ and ‘transsexual’ synonymously is not only factually incorrect, but in this context it also reiterates the transphobic idea that trans persons are simply performing an act. The term ‘transsexual’ is largely regarded as a derogatory term, often associated with a medicalized model that sees trans identities as a disorder. The word ‘tranny’ is an outright and extremely hateful insult. I hope you’re starting to see why I have a problem here.

Here are some definitions for you: ‘transsexual’ is a term used to describe a person who identifies as a gender or sex other than the one he or she was assigned at birth; ‘drag’ is the performance of one or multiple genders in a theatrical way.

There also seemed to be some confusion as to what gender pronouns to use in referring to our kings and queens. When discussing a performer, it is generally most appropriate to use gender pronouns consistent with one’s theatrically performed gender.

Other than the fact that this article appeared in the Feature section of the newspaper and was clearly an opinion piece, it also seemed as though the writer was quoting Miss Pandora Boxx just to sensationalize and hypersexualize the event, with absolutely no context of drag culture. Note of advice: This doesn’t make your article more interesting, it just makes you look blatantly transphobic/homophobic.  

In the future, I highly suggest you educate yourselves on ways to appropriately write about the LGBTQ community (or perhaps even speak to the people who organized the event). There are many resources out there, including the GLAAD media guide, used by many national publications. And if you’re actually concerned with healing your relationship with SU’s LGBTQ community, which you’ve managed to slaughter, I recommend having your staff undergo Ally Development training.

I hope you recognize that it shouldn’t be the job of your readers to educate you. The words in this article were not only distasteful and ignorant, but the ability for this article to go to print shows true irresponsibility and lack of good judgment on behalf of The D.O.’s editorial staff. This is not simply something that can be fixed with printing a few clarifications and corrections. Your attempt to do so is only further insulting and shows you do not understand the severity of the situation. The D.O. has once again shown an unwillingness to take ownership for the hateful words that have been printed within the publication. Thanks again for misrepresenting the LGBTQ community in a truly destructive way.

Jaime Bellemare

Junior broadcast journalism and political science major

 

Published on March 29, 2011 at 12:00 pm