"Drag Queen" Quote Taken Out of Context

First off, I would like to thank The Harvard Crimson, and especially its reporter, Rebecca Wand, for the article in its May 12th edition pertaining to BGLSA's new leadership and its plans for the future. Articles like this one are important to the future of any organization in order to allow its membership to see that the leaders have new and fresh ideas for the coming school year. It is for this reason, among others, that I find it important to respond quickly to the use of a quote of mine taken out of context from an interview with Wand.

The quote, "I worry about marginalizing BGLSA into an organization made up of drag queens and art fags," was taken out of context from an interview with the reporter.

The quote, "I worry about marginalizing BGLSA into an organization made up of drag queens and art fags," was taken out of context and straight from the middle of a conversation about BGLSA's perceived image by many gay, lesbian, bisexual and straight undergraduates at Harvard with whom I've spoken over the past few months. Prior to my saying this particular phrase, I had talked about the fact that many gay, lesbian and bisexual students do not come to BGLSA meetings and events because of this false perception. I went on afterwards to state that, indeed, BGLSA includes transvestite members and that these people constitute a valuable and rich part of our community, but this segment does not represent the entire make-up of the group.

It is important to say that BGLSA's image must be clarified and solidified as an organization that invites the participation of ALL members of the Harvard community, be they bisexual, gay, lesbian, transvestite, transsexual, straight etc. I certainly, by no means, intentioned by my statement to alienate any members of my community here, but by the use of this statement out of context it certainly made it sound as if I fear BGLSA becoming an organization made up solely of two of these groups. This is certainly not a fear of mine. Rather, I fear that this perceived image is keeping people from coming to meetings and participating in the community.

One final clarification I have is that the terms "drag queen" and "art fag" are not my own words, but the words of the undergraduates with these perceptions. I stay clear of using these terms as a member of the community because they can often be seen as pejorative terms which conjure up negative images. Earlier in the conversation with the reporter, I had used the terms "quote and unquote" in order to let her know that I was taking other people's terms and using them for more clarity. This is often the problem of telephone interviews, as I was told by a former Crimson editor.

Again, I'd like to thank The Crimson for giving attention to the future of BGLSA and the new membership's plans for the next year. At the same time, I would ask that editors and reporters be very careful to include the context in which statements are made so that their full intent may be clear. Robert F. Giannino '95   Co-Chair, BGLSA