Letters to the Editor

Cross-Dressing, the GSA Dance and Redefining Culture

To the Editor:
Over the course of many Octobers I have been delighted to see the stately columns of Samuel Phillips Hall adorned with the colorful array of rainbow fabrics. Each year this simple yet elegant GSA-sponsored activism in support of the rights of the LGBT community never fails to brighten my week. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I am compelled to write the editors after reading the disparaging and fearful opinion of students who choose to cross-dress in “drag” attire at the GSA-sponsored dance. The unsupportive letter recently published in The Phillipian would suggest that cross-dressing promotes a type of recruitment on the part of the GBLT community and/or the GSA. From my point of view, each year at the GSA Dance members and their friends challenge gender stereotypes and cultural assumptions based on appearances. For that matter, each week I see Blue Key men wearing blue kilts and Blue Key women wearing the school tie in an act of creative expression of school and/or community spirit. Rather than feeling uncomfortable, I feel these students must possess a true confidence in their own sexual identity no matter what costume they choose to wear. Truly, Peg Harrigan Instructor in Art