The Daily Barometer Online – Luke Sugie
?Whoa, that?s totally a DUDE!?
As I tend to identify as a man for most of my waking life, having those words thrown at me doesn?t usually unnerve me. But last Saturday night when a group of presumably straight men decided to call me out as a man I happened to be in red pumps and a fabulous red dress.
Not just any red dress, but my roommate?s sister?s red dress that she found at Goodwill. I looked fabulous and feminine, which isn?t difficult given my slender frame and distinct lack of musculature. Emerging from a night of dancing with 1,300 scantily-clad mostly queer folks at a wicked-fun red dress party held within a warehouse in north Portland, I decided to meet up with some friends downtown.
I happened to be walking between gay bars on Stark Street in Portland, arguably one of the queerest places in the Rose City. But despite my central location within the Gay Land of the biggest city in the state of Oregon I was still subject to roving bands of nomadic straight men who were intent on poking fun at my gender transgression and pointing out what they thought was my ?correct? gender.