Thunderous applause and cheers enveloped her as she took the stage.

Her skirt, only several inches long, precariously straddled her hips as she danced. She swayed and swiveled, mouthing the words to Beyonc’s ‘Crazy in Love’ as it blasted from the nearby speakers.

The crowd loved her, mainly because this washboard-abbed performer was really a man – Justin Welch, a junior public relations major.

Welch, his short skirt and the other drag kings and queens of the Totally Fabulous Drag Show on Feb. 19 shimmied transgender issues into the mind of the Syracuse University community. The Transgender Teach-In on Feb. 23 and a lecture and workshop by transgender activist Michelle O’Brian Feb. 28 and 29 worked to further educate participants about these issues.

But members of the university community say people still have difficulty understanding how to approach transgender students – those who identify with a sex other than the one they were born as – and do not realize that transgender issues affect everyone. SU students who may not consider themselves part of the LGBT community, they say, must also conform to strict gender categories.

While many students may love the drag show performers, a transgender person cannot put on a wig and lipstick every day and expect the same acceptance, said Rob Pusch, an instructional technology analyst at SU who began his transition from female to male 10 years ago.

‘I can’t imagine someone would say, ‘Oh, Syracuse, that’d be a great place to transition,” Pusch said.

If a person dressed in drag each day, others would most likely criticize or harass him or her because society does not consider that behavior normal, he added.

Welch, who won first place in the drag-queen portion of the show, said that he enjoyed being female for a night but could not imagine dressing in drag every day.

‘People would think there was something seriously wrong with me, or I was some kind of freak,’ Welch said.

This reaction toward dressing in drag, being transgender or acting like the a typical member of opposite sex may be due to the idea that these concepts question masculinity and femininity, not just sexual orientation, said Adrea Jaehnig, director of the LBGT Resource Center.

‘Even when lesbian, gay or bisexual people are harassed, it’s not really about sexuality but because they’re transgressing gender norms,’ Jaehnig said.

Transgender students, especially those who are transitioning from one sex to another, may also face more difficulties than gay or lesbian students.

‘With lesbian, gay or bisexual, you can choose if you let anybody else know. Nobody in your daily life really has to know anything,’ Jaehnig said. ‘But with being transgender, it’s a public transition, as well as something personal, and that’s poorly understood by most people.’

Transition, which may involve a name and pronoun change, hormone therapy or sex reassignment surgery, becomes especially troublesome when others have difficulty adjusting to the student’s change in gender identity.

‘Imagine if you suddenly changed your name, changed your pronoun,’ Pusch said. ‘People find it very disconcerting.’

No one can say exactly how many students identify as transgender on the SU and ESF campuses because the term applies to many people who may not feel comfortable with the label, Jaehnig said.

But transgender students find themselves in awkward situations in making everyday decisions, such as selecting a men’s or women’s bathroom. When students choose a certain bathroom or check the ‘male’ or ‘female’ box on surveys or evaluation forms, they place themselves into society’s gender categories.

‘People respond to you differently depending on what your gender is,’ Pusch said. ‘If you look male and you go into a female bathroom, people’s assumption is that you’re male, then they assume you’re in the wrong.’

‘Transgender issues resonate because they’re really gender issues, and we’re all trapped by gender ideologies,’ said Margaret Himley, an associate professor in the writing program and member of the University Senate Committee of LGBT Concerns. ‘Nobody ever really fits perfectly.’

Nearly every decision a person makes depends on society’s ideas of gender, from deciding what to wear, what sports or games to play or what to watch on TV, said Kathleen Farrell, a part-time instructor of sociology.

Within the SU campus environment, students face a greater pressure to conform to rigid gender roles, perhaps more so than at other campuses, Himley said.

‘We definitely have a lot of value placed in traditional, gendered institutions on this campus, such as sports, fashion, fraternities and sororities,’ Farrell said. ‘I’m sure it’s very hard to be anything outside of the mainstream.’

Students try to achieve specific masculine and feminine looks on the SU campus, said Patricia Vann, a freshman in The College of Arts and Sciences.

‘Everyone here is so into their appearance and looking a certain way,’ Vann said. ‘That’s what seems normal.’

Some students may not have considered how their gender may or may not affect their everyday lives if they have been socialized to look and act as only male or female.

‘It’s never been brought to my attention, and I don’t think about it,’ said Wes Miles, a sophomore linguistics and physics major.

But the LGBT Resource Center’s education efforts about transgender issues may teach all students about the strict gender roles on campus and make the campus a safer place for those who bend the norms, Farrell said.

‘We’re not taught or trained to recognize our societal roles, and we’re all perpetuating it,’ Farrell said. ‘It’s about educating everyone of gender issues, not just transgender issues.’

Published on March 2, 2004 at 12:00 pm