Thank you for explaining that. I was confused as a lot of crossdressers are straight as they come as far as they only have sex/want to have sex with women. In other words, putting on a dress doesn't make you gay and is often far from it.

As somebody that went to an old tradition HBCU and high school went to an all-male school. This is a fight that will not be won in days, months or years.

All this controversy has done has opened the eyes of the rampant homophobia within the black community. When you solve that issue, then the Morehouse issue will solve itself.

I guarantee this has been used against Morehouse in terms of recruiting new students.

Yeah I read the article.

Very eye-opening.

It was an interesting article. It reinforced what I was thinking: abide by the school's policy or go to a different school. The young man said something that stood out. He said that Morehouse was not ready for him which may be the case. Morehouse my NEVER be ready. It's a conservative thinking school. Let it go. Find a school that has polices you can live with and move on.

And there is always debate as to whether the College should be ready for "him" or whether "he" should be ready for the College. I think it is usually the latter because organizations like colleges and universities don't necessarily have to change with every change or demand in the student body.

Then again, simply based on what I know (which is limited) it seems like it isn't an issue of intolerance over sexual orientation (that happens, as well considering the athletes called one of the guys a "f*ggot") so much as it's an issue over what it means to be a man (biological sex and gender identities) at a men's college.

A similar phenomenon is happening at some women's colleges. Some women's colleges are surprisingly liberal and tolerant of the LGBT students and have larger populations of LGBT students than expected. The difference is the common belief that some lesbian and transgendered females don't "stick out" as much because they are often stereotyped as being less "flamboyant" than some homosexual and trasgendered males. A woman with short hair, wearing jeans, and a shirt (for example) is often less groundbreaking than a man wearing makeup and outfits like the men in that article were wearing on campus and around ATL.

Like I said earlier, these men are going up against not only the traditions of Morehouse, but the traditions of Historically Black PRIVATE Colleges and Universities.

With public institutions, you may not have that much backlash because they are receiving government funds (though private institutions still receive some type of government grants). The issue is the private schools have always been the leaders and on the forefront when it comes to educating the African-American community, and Morehouse particularly is focused on preparing men to succeed in the business world.

Though my school was not as strict as The House (shirt and tie to class) they still had plenty of professors and leaders let me know in not to kind words that cornrows was not a path to success( And don't get me started what I heard during the locking phase). We were trained and molded to move and succeed in America. How to turn it on and off, which fork to reach for, what to look out for when being invited to a business lunch. What these guys fail to realize is the issue of their uniform has nothing to do with the issue of homosexual acceptance, but more to do with the reality that you will not climb the corporate ladder (if that is something you choose to do) wearing women's clothing. I don't care how accepting Hollywood would like to portray it on television.

Therefore the real issue is, "Are the goals and traditions of Morehouse as a whole antiquated?" I ask that because when I clarified about climbing the corporate ladder as something you choose to do, the reality of it is HBCU's and a lot of colleges as a whole prepare you for the most part to work for somebody else.

I think that's the heart of the issue. I'm a b-school grad, so dressing properly and having "the right look" was important to me, but not everyone aspires to go down that path. It really shouldn't be the school's responsibility to push that on everyone.

This is a pretty big deal at Smith (and maybe some of the other of the Seven Sisters)--what it means to be a "woman" at a woman's college, and how women who identify as men mean for a woman's college. It's pretty interesting because transmen are alternately lauded and derided. I guess Smith's issue is different than Morehouse's because Smith is a pretty liberal place to begin with.

I didn't go to Smith, but transmen and women were pretty common at my college. In fact, one of my freshmen hallmates ended up going through gender transition and he made a movie about it, ended up in the NY Times and everything.

I feel like there are more open places for these men to be. College is hard enough without having to always justify your position.

Thanks for the insights.

It also highlights how some people have dreams of being a "Smith woman" (or "Spelman woman," etc.) and a "Morehouse man." What does it mean to be a "woman" and "man"; and what does it mean to be a "Smith woman" or a "Morehouse man."

But see, the thing is, that's part of the legacy of Morehouse. It's not going to go away overnight, if at all.

Right. I don't see any HBCUs changing THAT much. This is what I see as the big issue surrounding these events, though.

NPR covered the "Mean Girls of Morehouse" piece.

Tell Me More 10/21/10

So one of my friend who graduated with me from Spelman currently works at Morehouse. She was saying that really that the destitution that many young males are coming from is unbelievable. That what they grew up under or their household is NOTHING that many of us can imagine...Such as NO kinds of home discipline, training and behavior. The person who cared for them is not grandma or auntie or even the system. It's worse. Basically, how these kids grew up to even GET into college is amazing. And they test decently. So everything is copacetic on paper, but is a mess mental healthwise...

That young man in the story: He flunked out of Morehouse cause he did not show up to class not because of what he wore...

I am not saying what was done to him by adults & peers was right. What I am saying is these schools WILL FLUNK YOU OUT! They do not play...

You can call it old school tradition, but let's just say the world is harder on most black kids with no cushion at jump. So hey, this what they do. Old traditions die hard.

Moreover, there are YOUNG guys at Morehouse are currently starting sexual reassignment processes with the hormones. It is a personal choice while I have some issues about age and messing with it medically, but it is a choice. Unfortunately, Morehouse is not for the "transgendered"...

Lastly, there is Chronicle of Higher Education article that is out questioning all HBCU's relevancy anyway. So... Oh well... Per usual our stuff is not good enough for people... *shrugs*

eta: I visited Morehouse 3 weeks ago during ATL Pride Fest. Anyhow: those young men looked 12 years old to me and a tad bit rough. The same is true for the young ladies at Spelman, although they looked older, they looked rough. Of course at Spelman on the little flyers wall, as an off campus exercise class there was a "Pole Dancing" class being offered... My, my...LOL! Smh... Oh well.. *shrugs resigns onself to give up*

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I just wanted to clarify that the men featured in the article did not identify as transgendered, but more as androgynous gay males. (Unless I missed something.)

And 18 years old is not particularly young as far as hormonal therapy goes (for transgendered individuals), particularly if they weren't on something earlier to prevent puberty.