How I got my gay education
From tea parties to discrimination, this straight reporter learned a lot at the Blade.
KATHERINE VOLIN
Friday, June 06, 2008
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2008/6-6/view/columns/12719.cfm (http://www.washingtonblade.com/2008/6-6/view/columns/12719.cfm)
MY FIRST WEEK as a reporter for the Blade started with a bang three years ago.
I was the editorial assistant then and the editors at the time decided to throw me a softball story as a warm-up. They assigned me what was intended to be an easy piece providing an update on the Millions More Movement, marking the 10-year anniversary of the Million Man March.
I'm not sure I knew that week what "Friends of Dorothy" meant, because I'm straight. So I didn't know what a circuit party was or the meaning of the phrase "scissor sistering" and I'd never met a transgender person. That all changed pretty quickly, but the learning curve was steep.