LGBT Culture

By Cassidy Roderick
Topic: Societies stereotypical idea of how someone who is apart of the LGBT culture
dresses compared to how they actually dress.
Thesis: You cannot always tell if someone is lesbian, bisexual, gay, or transgender just by
looking at them. Not everyone follows the stereotypical ideas of society.
I. Introduction
1. My senior year of high school one of my best friends had what some call a "girl
crush" on another girl. A girl crush is known as a straight girl having a "crush" on another
girl, even though you aren't homosexual or bisexual. It's a term that's thrown around very
loosely and is very rarely a serious crush. In my friends' situation her girl crush just so
happened to be the only openly homosexual female in my high school. None of our
friends thought anything of it. Until the day that our best friend came out to us. It was
confusing to hear that the girl, who had been in so many serious heterosexual
relationships before, was actually a lesbian. This caused a lot of problems for my friend.
There were the whispers as she walked down the halls and no one understood because
she didn't "look" like a lesbian. With all of this talk about her and how she didn't dress or
look like a lesbian, this project made me wonder what stereotypical ideas we have about
how someone who is homosexual, bisexual, or transgender should dress.
II. Homosexuals and bisexuals
1. This man is someone who is what we would call a flamboyantly gay man and
this woman is what we would call a butch lesbian.
a. Show picture of Frankie Grande and butch lesbian.
2. Even though he dresses and looks like this, it does not mean that everyone who
is homosexual dresses and looks this way. For instance look at this photo of a group of
guys. Raise your hand if you can tell me which one of this group is homosexual.
a. Show picture of a group of normal guys (1 who is gay within the group)
3. Even though people consider homosexuals to be either a flamboyant male or
butch female this is actually very rarely the case. This goes for how the way transgenders
look as well.
III. Transgenders
1. When people hear the word transgender it is a confusing concept for them.

Most people think of your typical drag queen. This however is also usually incorrect.
Although some drag queens may actually be transgender, most of the time transgenders
are not drag queens. For example Laverne Cox. If any of you have ever watched the show
the Orange is The New Black you probably recognize her. In an interview in Time
magazine done by Katy Steinmatz She states, " I think in my imagination I thought that I
would hit puberty and I would start turning into a girl." I believe this is a big aspect of
how transgenders brains work. When people see her they do not see her as a man that
dresses like a woman like they would see a drag queen. They see her as a woman. This is
how it should be for all transgenders, whether they believe themselves to be a man or a
woman.
IV. The group as a whole
1. Not only are these stereotypes used to misinterpret how someone of the LGBT
should look, but also they are used to misjudge a person who fits those stereotypes. This
is shown in the following scene from the 2004 movie Mean Girls.
a. Show clip from Mean Girls
2. In this clip you see Regina talking about how Janis Ian is a lesbian and we all
know what Janis Ian looks like. She's what people considered butch. However if you've
ever seen the movie you know that she is actually straight and ends up with a boyfriend
in the end. These misconceptions are made all the time.
V. Conclusion
1. All in all, if everyone would drop the typical image stereotypes of the LGBT
culture and every other culture for that matter I think the world would be a much better
place. Like they say, never judge a book by it's cover. Thank you.