Editor, Daily Nexus,

In February I wrote a letter to the Nexus in which I argued against gay marriage while promoting the “slippery slope” idea that if we accept homosexuality as normal we will soon see the emergence of other even more unnatural behaviors attempting to become mainstream (“The Reader’s Voice: Gays and Lesbians Should Be Happy With the Rights They Have,” Daily Nexus, Feb. 17). On Monday,” my fears were confirmed when I read the article “Drag Queens Present a Day of Scantily Clad, Eye-Opening Education” (Daily Nexus, May 17).

Now, I am not even going to venture into the subject of whether it is appropriate for a prestigious university to sponsor a cross-dress strip show for its students in which one might observe a “lesbian sociology professor touch a naked drag queen’s penis,” but rather I wish to point out that the behavior of the drag queens is not a issue of life choice but a serious mental problem.

Gender Identity Disorder is a mental condition that causes people to identify themselves as members of the opposite sex. Responses to these feelings range from discomfort with one’s own body to cross-dressing – as displayed by the drag queens – to gender reassignment surgery, or a “sex change.” I am all for accepting people as they are and I would not think of myself as “closed-minded,” as Karen Sikola labeled anyone who wouldn’t approve of the strip show, but I feel that it is neither right nor appropriate to treat these disturbed individuals as normal members of society. In doing so we are doing a disservice not only to impressionable students like Ms. Sikola, who might assume that such behavior is normal and acceptable, but also to the queens themselves. They need psychiatric care to help them come to accept the body that they have been given and learn to be happy with themselves without playing an elaborate game of dress-up.

In summary, I agree with Ms. Sikola that everyone should be “confident in who you are,” because if everyone were to do so there would be no need for the queens to act and dress like someone they’re not.