JANUARY 1976

HIGH GEAR

Page 11

By Yer Fat Aunt Annie

UEEN ANNE'S LACE +

This month's question is almost as basic as the ones I've answered in the last few columns. But it's really a loaded one, with all sorts of judgements and implications.

Q.: Most transvestites (and/or) "drag queens" are heterosexual. True or false?

Wow. In some eighteen years of fluttering around this world in a skirt on at least a part-time basis, I've met, interviewed and discussed this subject with hundreds of queens. Those contacts, plus a lot of serious reading, plus a lot of research, leads me to some personal opinions. And that's what you'll read from here on. But I assure you they are NOT necessarily held by the Management--of anything, anywhere!

Some years ago, when queens other than bar-hustlers were just beginning to come out of their

closets and get to know each other, a very fine person in California started an international organization aimed at getting transvestites (he refuses to use the term "queen" except in a derogatory sense, even today) to meet each other and help each other understand and cope with their urges. Since it was damn-all difficult for any person to admit to themselves (let alone the outside world) that they might be gay, at that point in time, the organization stressed that their members MUST be heterosexual. They still stress this. It is interesting to note, however, that their ranks are shrinking as years go by....

I've known Gini Prince, the founder, for many years. And we've argued for many years over this point. My viewpoint has always been--what difference does it make, a guy in a dress is a guy in a dress? But that was only in terms of the organization's membership requirements. I just do not like narrow-mindedness in any form. And, to me, this makes about as much sense as the Puritans who came to America to escape religious persecution years ago-and immediately established a government that practiced it to the point of hanging those who did not subscribe to their religion! That's why I keep hollering about gays getting to know their neighborhood. queens...we're all in the same boat, so for Pete's sake let's quit belting one another and ROW!

Anyway, that group did a great deal to foreward the idea that all drags were heterosexual.

But I guess they never stopped off at Twiggy's on a warm Saturday evening..

I believe that many drags adhere to the belief that they are heterosexual because many are married, have families and fine positions in communities and other discover their interest in female-ism after having committed themselves to this lifestyle. They MUST keep believing it or deny all they've worked so hard to create. These are the middle-aged drags, the better educated ones, and--most often-the most secretive ones.

It is interesting to note that the people I've interviewed as part of several studies in the mid West who admit they are attracted to men when dressed as woman (themselves) are most often those who discovered their drag-queen urges while they were still young, small-waisted, lithe and "girlish" in appearance. The gay community became an outlet for their urges what and they simply "did comes naturally."

But, in almost all cases, honestly think that there are more than the usual amount of gay drives in drag queens. More, I mean, than the gay urges which sexologists now hasten to point out are residual in ALL human personalities.

I don't think that queens are gay people who occasionally go in

drag, however. I think, instead, that they are people who find they are much happier and more relaxed in a woman's personality, clothing and lifestyle/role. And slowly progress from a delight in their dresses to

a desire to formulate a complete female personality to a desire to fulfill the sexual role of the female as part of that total female role-playing. So they go man-hunting. Or suddenly find themselves confronted by a male who urgently wants sex and reads them as willing. Because of this logical and sometimes undetected

progression, I have repeatedly warned neophytes that they should recognize the possibility of such a confrontation/opportunity and make up their minds ahead of time whether they will take advantage of it -and thus, not find themselves

non-

doing something which is not thought-out and which they'll have great guilt feelings about thereafter. Thanks to the extreme social approbriation of the drag-urge in ALL levels of society, including the general gay community, we gals have enough shit on our heads as it is.

So, in answer to the question from what I've observed and heard-NO. The vast majority of drag queens are NOT heterosexual. But equally true-NO-the vast majority are not necessarily gay. Most will admit, myself included, to having little or no attraction to even the most attractive men unless we are in

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drag. But if we are -yes, oh yes! But, in case the girls out there. think they're totally "safe", let me add that many drags also have a strong turn-on to certain types of females as well-whether in drag or not. So, girls, when a queen smiles at you try it, you might like it!

For a deeper understanding (or a further confusion) of the issue, might I once again refer you to a book that is pretty generally available and still considered to be the No. 1 definitive, serious text on the subject, though it was originally written decades ago. It's titled, The Transexual Phenomenon, authored by a Harry L. Benjamin, M.D. and should be available in hardcover from any major library or (if there are still any in print) in a softcover edition published by an outfit called Ace Books.

NOTE: GOT A QUESTION? Address it to Yer Fat Aunt Annie, c/o HIGH GEAR, PO Box 6177, Cleveland, Ohio 44101 and I'll either answer you directly or give you a better source by return mail! Maybe your question will even become the basis for next month's column!