This story from CNN caught my eye:
An all-male college in Atlanta, Georgia, has banned the wearing of women’s clothes, makeup, high heels and purses as part of a new crackdown on what the institution calls inappropriate attire.
William Bynum says he discussed the new dress-wearing ban policy with Morehouse’s campus gay organization.
No dress-wearing is part of a larger dress code launched this week that Morehouse College is calling its “Appropriate Attire Policy.”
The policy also bans wearing hats in buildings, pajamas in public, do-rags, sagging pants, sunglasses in class and walking barefoot on campus.
However, it is the ban on cross-dressing that has brought national attention to the small historically African-American college. The dress-wearing ban is aimed at a small part of the private college’s 2,700-member student body, said Dr. William Bynum, vice president for Student Services.
“We are talking about five students who are living a gay lifestyle that is leading them to dress a way we do not expect in Morehouse men,” he said.
Of course, the use of the word ‘lifestyle’— is homophobia lite; a way of saying that gays could just man-up with a lifestyle makeover if we made ‘em. Dig a bit deeper though, and you realize it isn’t the college being homophobic; it’s the gay student organization being femme phobic:
Before the school released the policy, Bynum said, he met with Morehouse Safe Space, the campus’ gay organization.
“We talked about it and then they took a vote,” he said. “Of the 27 people in the room, only three were against it.”
Huh. Later in the same article, we get this quote:
“So the regular gays gave us permission to ban the drag queens,” said one college official under conditions of anonymity. “We didn’t realize it would cause all this hoo ha. We thought about making the trannys sit in the back of the class and giving them special water fountains, but someone pointed out that that was ironic. What are you going to do? You can’t please everybody.
Ok, I made up the last part. Or maybe I didn’t.
{ 0 comments }
