By now, everyone has heard about, talked about and maybe even scrutinized Lady Gaga’s outlandishly, well, Lady Gaga-esque performance at this year’s VMAs. Gaga strolled in as her drag alter ego Jo Calderone, even accepting the Best Female Video award as him.

Reactions from the LGBT community have been mixed. A majority say she’s doing something huge for the community in general - her active support of the DADT repeal, encouragement of marriage equality in New York and anthem Born This Way are close to unparalleled when it comes to celebrities and the gay rights movement. 

Many people say her performance as Jo had the same impact. They argue she gave a voice to transgender people who aren’t often represented in society, let alone in pop culture. The article linked above from MTV gives a handful of these impressions.

But a lot of others, including many of you, disagree. You’ve said Jo is a dishonest representation because Gaga can turn the persona on and off; she doesn’t have to find a balance or transition between two lives the way trans people do. I see both sides of this argument. 

Let this be an open forum: is Jo Calderone good for the LGBT rights movement, particularly the T? Is he a bad thing? Neither?

The story linked above holds a special place in my heart. Its source is the daily independent newspaper at the University of Florida, the school my significant other and many of my friends attend and my home state’s pride and joy. 

In this guest column from the Independent Florida Alligator, a UF student explains that the school’s LGBT student group, Pride Student Union, is an embarrassment to the gay community. Harsh, eh?

This gentleman argues that rather than working towards equality for non-straight people, the campus organization perpetuates harmful stereotypes against gays. He cites events the organization has put on, like drag shows, events featuring Christian Siriano and a showing of the movie “I Love You Phillip Morris” as reasons to believe all gays are exactly the same, as if such cultural events were meant to classify all gay guys as “limp-wristed drag-queen-loving femmes.” And I quote:

Do I wear womens clothing? No. Because I’m gay, am I required to think anything Lady Gaga has to say is relevant? No. Is it wrong for gay men to enjoy football or things more commonly associated with heterosexuals? No, not at all. However, many people automatically assume these things to be true. Why? Because the unfortunate truth is that organizations like Pride have made it impossible for the rest of the world to see not all gay men want to flaunt their sexuality around like they got it half-off at Neiman Marcus.

Now, I am not a student at UF, and so I have not experienced the disconnect this young man is describing firsthand. However, I am nonetheless a student at a pretty liberal college in a pretty liberal town, so I think it’s safe to make a few parallels. 

My school also has an annual drag show put on by our LGBT student group. My school also brings prominent LGBT people and allies to campus, like Anthony Rapp and Erin Daniels. My school will have a showing of Black Swan soon, and we can’t pretend that wasn’t homoerotic. 

But is that bad? Do these events perpetuate some stereotype that we’re all exactly the same? Considering how little Pandora Boxx, Erin Daniels and Mila Kunis have in common, I’m going to say no. 

Every community has special events, special cultural icons, special things that bring them together. They’re not intended to make us all seem like the same “limp-wristed queens”; they’re supposed to give us color and character.

Events like drag shows represent the undying strength of the LGBT community in the face of adversity and intolerance. If we’re not going to put them on, who will? If we’re not going to be proud of the things we care about, why call it gay pride at all? 

I disagree a great deal with this gentleman. Not only does he clearly not appreciate the liberal atmosphere of his school and the presence of invaluable resources for the LGBT community, but he’s going as far as to mock them. This is a damn shame.