SIFIRE PUDENT INSID

ARTICLE

RUTHANN STRAIGHTENS

THEM OUT

The following letter was written to the ISTHMUS, a local paper in the Madison, Wisconsin area. The very capable writer was Ruthann (WI-14-M), a leader of the Tri-Sigma work in her area and one who has helped in developing a brochure which is sent to all inquirers; She also has helped develop a newspaper release, one that is sent to newspapers all over in the hope that such papers will accept the material concerning transvestism for publication.

Dear Fred: This is just another letter on your effort to cover the gay scene in Madison in ISTHMUS No.42. It has to do with some apparently off-handed comments, made in your "Making The Paper" intro article about the six foot drag queen who "just moved out of the room adjacent to the ISTHMUS Press Suite..." I am still trying to figure out what you meant by this comment. Even given the context of the paragraph in which it appears, I am not sure whether you mean to say:

(1) that it is especially not surprising to discover that this "drag queen" is gay, since we all know that all crossdressers.

are: or

(2) that even this "drag queen" from whom you'd least of all expect it, turns out to be gay.

If you mean the latter, you deserve huzzahs for your awareness of the characteristics of the crossdressing para-cul- ture's members. However, I fear that you meant the former, or at least that most of your readers took you to mean this. Assuming that my fears are justified, I feel that some clarifications are in order.

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