If Men Dress Like Women, the Terrorists Win

We reported earlier this evening that Carnival Cruise lines allegedly sent an email to passengers on its upcoming “Drag Stars at Sea” cruise, notifying them that drag would be banned on the drag cruise. That email has since been confirmed by the operator of the drag cruise segment of the larger Carnival cruise.

For the sake of the children, Carnival explained earlier, it just had to ban passengers from dressing up in drag during the “drag cruise.” The drag cruise was a sub-section of a larger “family” cruise that will include children. But of course. if drag is such a threat to children, then why book the cruises simultaneously at all?

Well, it seems Carnival wasn’t giving us the whole explanation for why they were banning drag on a drag cruise.

You see, it wasn’t about the kids, Carnival is now saying. Carnival was simply enforcing it’s super-duper-double-secret post September 11 anti-terrorism policy against drag.

Seriously.

From a Facebook posting from the organizer of the drag-cruise-within-a-cruise Al and Chuck Travel:

[P]lease take note, Carnival’s regulation is NOT an example of discrimination. Carnival is an ally of the GLBT community. Please understand that this cruise could not even be happening on the GLORY if Carnival was not an ally of our segment of society. When they say they are a “family friendly” cruise line they mean it in both the traditional and metaphorical sense of the phrase. Carnival’s “no costumes rule” is NOT meant to be an insult to the gay community. As a gay business, we would not have organized this cruise if they were prejudiced against gay people. This rule goes for both GAY and STRAIGHT passengers that travel on all Carnival cruises. It is in response to the post-911 world we live in. It is meant to protect passengers and guests – NOT to marginalize a few. Additionally, we know that transgendered members of our community will be aboard with us during this event. Please do not worry, Carnivals rule is not meant towards you. Your right to live your identity is always supported. Finally, Drag Stars At Sea is a cruise venue for you to meet the stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL. Just as you would not go in costume (other than on Halloween) to a club to see them perform, neither should you on the GLORY.

Yeah, I mean who would go in costume to a show on a Carnival Cruise. I mean, besides these guys:

Well, and besides these guys:

Okay, I’ll bite. Carnival has a policy of not letting people dress in costume, because of 9/11, when none of the hijackers dressed in costume. In fact, as I recall, the terrorists shaved and put on nice clothes. Even polished their shoes. So where does this whole “Osama bin Cross-Dressing” fear come from?

The only place I could even find a mention of Al Qaeda in drag was on a loony people Web site, FrontPageMag. In it we discover an article from last year about Taliban terrorists dressed as women in burqas.

Hmm… I’m gonna go on a limb here and suggest that Al Qaeda, or the Taliban, can find lots of other ways to attack a cruise than dressing like Divine.

And there’s another problem. How is Carnival supposedly okay with trans people going on the cruise, how will they “support” a transgender person’s “right to live your identity,” if men can’t dress as women and vice versa? One man’s transgender is another man’s drag – what’s to stop Carnival’s straight cruise employes from kicking some trans person off the ship for “being in drag”? So it’s okay to be trans, but don’t be too “fun” about it, you know wearing fun clothes or, god-forbid a wig (so trans people on chemo are out), lest some Carnival employee mistake you for a gay man in a dress and kick you off the ship? Can’t get more welcoming than that.

Carnival’s Web Site Says Only Costume Restriction is “No Weapons”

But hey, what do you know – when some asked, just two months ago, if Carnival had any policy on wearing Halloween costumes on their ships, they got this not-very-September-11 response on Carnival’s own Web site:

Well, color me confused, but the good ole gays didn’t get any warnings about weapons. Unless fierce hair is a weapon (and you know it is, girl).

And here are even more reports of Carnival cruise customers, and Carnival’s own employees, dressing in costume all over the ship:

The responses from cruise members to the latest 9-11 news was withering: