Transgender Etiquette
http://blogs.phillymag.com/gphilly/2011/05/12/transgender-etiquette/5/12/11
by Natalie Hope McDonald
Thanks to a recent dustup between transgender performer Justin Vivian Bond and New York magazine, we began thinking about how to treat "trans" issues – both in the media and in our own lives. In many ways, the profile on this extraordinary entertainer (very popular within the gay community) and the publication (yep, we have a copy on our nightstand) illustrates exactly what can go wrong when it comes down to something as "simple" as a pronoun.
Bond – a fixture on the downtown scene in New York – has always played fancifully with gender, especially when portraying Kiki as part of the fictional Kiki and Herb lounge duo who packed houses in cities including Philadelphia over the years (confession: we've seen Bond shows too many times to count and loved every minute of it).