Editor,
After reading the letter from Ann E. Gillies (PhD!), all I can say is, “consider the source”: a “professional” with a website dedicated to “allow individuals with crises in identity to recover wholeness”. This includes giving talks on the almost universally discredited and damaging notion of “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria”.
Ms. Gillies attempts to mask homophobia and transphobia behind self-proclaimed professionalism and a degree (from a conservative Baptist institution founded by Jerry Falwell, Sr.) She extends the American Heritage Dictionary definition of “drag queen”, which ends full-stop at “clothing”, to include her own opinions about the “intentional mockery of women in general”. And she makes spurious claims about “gender ideology and the eradication of womanhood within the transgender movement”.
But she can’t hide her bigotry when she lets slip that she finds a drag event in Meaford “repugnant”, which to use her own dictionary of choice, means “arousing disgust or aversion”. And she claims that the event is a “desecration” of the message of Christmas. Seriously? If only Jesus were here to talk some sense to her.
Ms. Gillies admits she wasn’t even at the event. She saw an 11-second clip of a dance on Facebook and heard that there was a drag event associated with it. At least she referred to the “scantily clad female dancer” correctly. Gotcha, Ann!
Vic Michener, Meaford
