Mr. Dugdale,\nIn an column published in the April 19 edition of the IDS, you showed concerns for the Miss Gay IU pageant. Your concern for the MGIU program, as I see it, can be broken down into three parts: professionalism on stage by those involved; the actual name “Miss Gay IU”; and your thoughts that a gay group giving money to HIV causes is hypocritical.\nThese are valid points, and hopefully I can address them all in under 350 words.\nThe OUT board set several new rules into place this year to help to solve the problem of professionalism on stage. By and large, it helped. However, we also have the problem of dealing with those that don’t want the program changed and we have to hear their concerns as well. The term “Miss Gay ...” is used all over the gay pageantry world, e.g., Miss Gay America, Miss Gay Indiana. This is used only to separate these pageants from their real-girl counterparts. There are also Mr. Gay contests as well, that will utilize “Mr. Gay (Indiana)” or what have you. The name is not meant to be emasculating toward anyone, but rather to signify that the pageant is indeed a female impersonation event rather than a real-girl beauty contest.\nPersonally, I do not feel that anyone donating their own money for any cause should be questioned. If you think your money is better spent helping the homeless or saving the whales, by all means, spend it there. It is very much each person’s prerogative to spend their money on the causes that suit them best.\nIn closing, I invite you, Mr. Dugdale, along with anyone who truly has issues with MGIU, to join me and the OUT president for a dinner meeting (on me!) where we will have open ears and minds to ways in which you feel that the program can be better run. We will consider each of these concerns as we go about planning for next year’s event. Please understand that we realize there are those who hate female impersonators and their shows and will never change their stance. To those people I say this: Your opinion is no less valid than anyone else’s. However, please let people form their own opinions before your thrust yours upon them. These programs set in place by us do a lot of good for the community in many ways, whether you agree with the methodology or not.
Vanessa Vale\nMiss Gay IU 2006
