I wrote a piece a long time ago about going out for Halloween one year in Greenwich Village dressed as Mae West. It wasn't my idea. My husband and our trans friend put their heads together and planned it up, and when they told me about it I bought into it fully.

It sounded like a hoot!

I had never done drag before, had never even thought about it, but why not?

I learned why not pretty damn fast that night. We mostly had a fabulous time, but sexist energy and even sexually abusive behavior shocked me. I'd never had my butt slapped and pinched in public before. I'd never had anyone grope my breasts. People knew mine were falsies that night, and some of the groping was just gay men being silly. But not all of it was!

I felt like presenting as a woman (which I did in a fairly realistic way rather than in today's more exaggerated drag-queen stylized way) put a sign on my back that said, "abuse me."

The Village crawls with cis/straight tourists on Halloween. Or at least it did then. I felt a little bit like a performer in a freak show when confronted with cis/straight/male reaction to my Mae West impersonation. I dressed that way to have fun with my friends and family, not for ideological or political reasons. But way too many men seemed to find my Halloween costume intensely provocative or threatening.

I had betrayed their ideals of masculine power and superiority. By presenting as "the weaker sex," I had in some way in their minds betrayed them.

I guess what I really betrayed was the patriarchy.

As you pointed out, the Catholic archdiocese in Denver is doing its very best to defend the patriarchy. Stereotypically male behavior in girls is okay with them, but stereotypically female behavior in boys is enough to get you expelled.

It doesn't get much more stark than that. It really is saying the quiet part out loud.