By Deron Snyder

Morehouse College is among our most venerable HBCUs, alma mater to prominent African Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr., Spike Lee, Howard Thurman and Lerone Bennett Jr. The nation's largest liberal arts college for men, "the House" has conferred bachelor's degrees on more black men than any other college.

There are no statistics on the number of graduates inclined to wear makeup, dresses and high heels. And if the administration has its way, we'll never know, because it instituted a dress code that prohibited those practices last year. Although feminine clothing wasn't the focus of Morehouse's "appropriate attire" policy, that aspect was the most sensationalized and publicized.

The school finds itself in the news again this month, with a lengthy article in Vibe called "The Mean Girls of Morehouse." Reading the headline, I thought the story was about women from nearby Spelman College or perhaps the surrounding neighborhood. But no, in an article highlighting the difficulties faced by a small group of current and former cross-dressing gay students, Vibe took the conversation in a childish direction from the start by calling the men "girls."

That headline prompted a protest letter from Morehouse president Robert M. Franklin before the story was published. "I strongly disagree with the likely substance of this article," he wrote, adding that "addressing our young men as 'girls' is deeply disturbing to me, no matter what the remainder of the article may say.

"It seems clear from the headline alone that the Vibe editorial team's intent is to sensationalize and distort reality for the purpose of driving readership. The title of the article speaks volumes about a perspective that is very narrow and one that is, in all likelihood, offensive to our students, whether gay or straight."

Franklin was correct to assail the magazine's choice of words. But the story itself showed how far we are from resolving our issues with the LGBT community. There's no escaping the shock value of Diamond, Brian and Philip, the men who are profiled. With their dangling earrings, arched eyebrows, makeup, scarves and tote bags, they're guaranteed to turn heads everywhere they go.

Dressing like that is their choice, and it should never be accompanied by verbal or physical abuse. Treating those who are gay or transgender with respect is a choice we should make, regardless of our opinions on sexuality and masculinity.