Many people think “drag queens” should be included under the “transgender” umbrella. But not everyone does, including the drag queen who participated in the recent controversial tampon commercial that had many transgender people protesting against it as being transphobic.
The drag queen has spoken out in an article on the Huffington Post site. Sandee Crack says he is a gay man who dresses in drag as a performer, and doesn’t consider himself to be a trans person. He feels that by appearing in the commercial he was furthering the cause of drag queens on the road to acceptance. And he feels that the trans community is guilty of “dragphobia.”
Wow!
I for one have never assumed drag queens are transgender people, and I always resented it when newspapers ran photos of drag queens in Gay Pride parades and tried to pass them off as representatives of what transgenderism is all about. It is yet another example of why the T does not belong in LGBT.
Now a drag queen has finally spoken out about all of this, and I applaud Sandee for doing so.
Jillian
Comments to jpage@montrealgazette.com
Readers comments’
Jillian:
I particularly liked and agree with this point of view (comment) on the Huffington Post site:
‘As a trans woman I have no problem at all with a man in woman’s clothing. The problem is, a hairy, broad shouldered, stubbly woman is how trans women are constantly depicted in the media. We’re either mannish caricatures to laugh at or sneaky deceivers out to trick poor straight men into sleeping with us.
There is nothing in your ad to differentiate yourself as a drag queen vs. a caricature of a trans woman, and to pretend that it’s obvious and that you’re being picked on out of “dragphobia” is pretty silly. If the ad had shown an obvious drag show, or had some other indication it would be different, but the ad takes place in a woman’s restroom! Do you as a gay man use the women’s restroom when you’re in drag? Most gay men, drag queens or not, don’t in my limited experience.
But moreover, the point of the commercial is you have to have to menstruate to be a woman. As a drag queen I can see why that doesn’t bother you at all, but surely you can see how trans women would be upset.’
Kaye
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