Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Am I a tranny?
Does my own identification as a man not align with my physical sex? Does my scruffy face or deep voice reek of femininity?
My clearly scruffy face and deep voice point make me surprisingly manly, but my friend screaming over the phone that a transgendered person was going to be on the next season of “America’s Next Top Model” made me question it. Was my friend calling because he’s also gay and figured I would be interested or because he knows I am a fan of the show? But I am skeptical of a transgendered person entering the public eye.
A transgendered person can be of any sexual orientation. But I was thrown off by this definition. Who else was hiding under my gay umbrella? Bisexuals? Pansexuals? Intersex? Asexuals?
I am not a transgendered person. I am gay. Gay has not become an umbrella term for everyone who’s not heterosexual. And if it has, it is being grossly misused.
Spencer Brown, known as Daisy Buckët in drag, has his sexual identity confused on a daily basis. He has been a professional drag queen for two years. In bars and clubs in Lawrence and Kansas City, his fans call sometimes him a “hot tranny mess.”
But Brown is not a transsexual. He is a drag queen — he said he did it for the entertainment value and the money, not for sexual stimulation or because of personal gender identity issues. Brown said he was not bothered by this label confusion, but understood that some, including me, could be offended if they were called by the wrong sexual identity. I guess hearing, “You were a real drag tonight, Daisy,” could get old pretty fast.
Brown said he wasn’t sure about a solution to my gay umbrella problem. He did know that one way was to attempt to educate the public on different sexual identities, but how to do that with so many terms and identities was a mystery to him.
Lori Messinger, associate professor of social welfare and expert in gay and lesbian issues, did have a solution, though: She uses the word “queer” for anyone not heterosexual.
However, the word “queer” has had a negative past. I can remember fewer than five years ago the word being used in a derogatory sense for gay men. Recently, though, Messinger said it has become a term of empowerment.
But I don’t think I can use that term to describe myself. I’m not a big fan of its traditional definition of odd or unusual. I also won’t regress back to homosexual, either. It sounds too clinical and is too cumbersome of a word.
When I came out to family and friends, I told them I was gay, meaning I was attracted to the same sex — nothing more, nothing less.
So I’ll be watching the new season of “America’s Next Top Model” tomorrow. I hope to see the transgendered contestant, Isis, come out from under the gay umbrella and successfully create her own transgendered identity and just become one of the girls.
Hirschfeld is an Augusta senior in journalism.
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Comments
Hirschfeld: Using broad labels erases valuable differences
Matt great article, randomly I just helped a friend of mine create his drag identity last night. After a intense wig-trying-on session at fun and games we picked the perfect one and the name Daisy Barbados just popped into his head, it was destiny:) I love that you are stepping out of your opinion comfort zone and laying it all out their for the readers. After all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being gay.... not happy gay....gay gay. :0)
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