Letters to the Editor

Responses to “GSA Dance: A Celebration of Lewdness” (10/12)

To the Editor: Sebastian Becker’s article “GSA Dance: A Celebration of Lewdness?” caused much talk among my friends and other people in the Phillips Academy community. Many people saw Mr. Becker’s view on the transsexual aspect of the dance as homophobic and out of line. In one part of the article, he simply put, “I am not a homophobe, but the idea of having a transsexual dance to promote the culture and rights of homosexuals is ridiculous.” He also wrote, “A very minimal part of stereotypical homosexual lifestyle consists of cross dressing.” At first, I thought that Mr. Becker’s tone was homophobic. But he has a very important point. He wrote, “The GSA needs to lose its arrogance and find more appropriate ways to attract new members.” Mr. Becker is right. It is ignorant to assume that all homosexuals would feel the need to cross dress. Homosexuality is not defined by men who cross dress or who like to shop and do ballet. In fact, there are many gay men that are quite masculine. “Homosexual; a person sexually attracted to members of the same sex.” This is how it is defined in Webster’s Dictionary. It wasn’t defined as “Homosexual; a person sexually attracted to members of the same sex and who also like to dress up in clothes of the opposite sex.” I remember when I was at camp this past summer, a friend of mine said, “All gay men are the same. No matter how different each one of them looks, they still are all effeminate.” I get very frustrated by this stereotype. When I told some of my friends how I felt, they said to me, “The cross dressing part of the dance was not about being gay. It was about accepting transsexuals into the community.” Then why did the GSA call it the Gay Straight Alliance dance? Couldn’t there be a weekend for transsexuals? The reality is that there are some gay men who cross dress. There is nothing wrong with this because that is who they are, and they should be allowed to be who they are. But it is very wrong to assume that all gay men cross dress and to have everyone cross dress because it is the GSA dance is outright offensive. Mr. Becker was right when he wrote, “Oddly, I fear that this expression of my feeling will be less received on campus than cross dressing.” I am a member of the GSA, and I support their goal, which is to make gay teens feel accepted in the Phillips Academy community. But they made a very bad decision to advertise the GSA dance as a cross-dressing party. I hope that in time, people will get over the stereotype that all gay men are effeminate. Sincerely, Ben Talarico ’11