From the article:
Shirley, an 80-year-old retired engineer and widower for 13 years, says the urge to cross dress fi rst arose when she (it is considered polite protocol to refer to cross dressers as "she" when they are dressed up) was a teen but says: "The feelings went away for quite a while while I concentrated on my career, my marriage and raising my family.
I was pleased to see the author willing to use the female pronoun and explaining why. Too many articles that I have encountered in the newspaper choose to use the male pronoun as a way to somehow make the audience understand better. I find that to be rude.
