RANSVESTIA

After my insistance, I was led into the Chief's office. I was uptight and a little shakey. Fortunately my story was one that justified my w being shakey: I'd just been shocked by the discovery of my close friend on a shopping spree in a nearby shopping mall, dressed ... well how could I say it? . . . as a woman! I needed to know if he was in trouble with the law? He's a fine man, with loving family and kids, active in the community, and certainly not a homesexual. Is he in legal trouble?... His lawyer tells him there are no state laws against this, but what about local statutes in this town? ..."

I asked the same basic questions of police officials in five different towns, each representing a different size, composition and social makeup. These questions were:

1. An officer "reads" a TV in a public place-what is he apt to do?

2. A woman comes to an officer, complaining that "That woman appears to be a man, dressed as a woman..."-how will the officer react?

3. A TV is stopped for a routine traffic offense, and when required to produce identification, shows a man's drivers license. What charges will be placed?

4. Needing to use a rest room, the TV can't wait to return home, and can't use a Men's Room-so in desperation uses a Ladies' Room. A woman "reads" him and goes out to report the matter to an officer. How will the officer react?

The replies varied widely, but they all had a common legal basis— namely that merely dressing in public violates no state law in Massa- chusetts, nor does it transgress any local ordinance in any of the five towns sampled. These five towns lie on the fringe of metropolitan Boston, some with their own commerce and industry, and others simply "bedroom" communities, dominated by highly respectable professional people, well informed and with typically regimented moral standards. I add this detail because police attitudes commonly reflect the moral viewpoints of the supporting citizenry.

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