Disputed Use of Quote

* “Era of the Gender Crosser” (Feb. 27) describes the problem of so-called “bigotry” in the gay and lesbian community by selectively quoting one of my articles on the subject of transgender operations.

A paragraph that ends with the words “the diverse nature of both groups has made the alliance an often-uneasy one, with each side having to confront its own bigotry” is followed by: “Last year Norah Vincent, a columnist for the gay-oriented periodical the Advocate, took issue with the transgender community’s use of language, winding up her argument by asking why ‘transsexuals mutilate their bodies in order to make them conform to the fashionable version of the opposite sex and gender’ instead of living ‘with all the polymorphy God gave you, body and soul.’ ”

The strong implication is clear and I resent it deeply. I am not a bigot, as I have said several times in my articles. As I wrote in the follow-up article to the one quoted, “I acknowledge every transgendered person’s right to go by another name, take hormones, undergo plastic surgeries, and, most of all, pursue happiness and enjoy life, liberty, and equal protection under the law.” I don’t share the prevailing orthodox opinion that transsexuals are members of the opposite sex simply because they have had surgery and taken hormones. They’re not. That is not bigotry. It’s merely a statement of biological fact.

NORAH VINCENT

New York City