Diane Middlebrook (1939–2007)

The author is extremely offensive in her refusal to consider that her subject may not have been "playing a role" or "deceiving" anyone. It is easy enough to imagine a person dressing up as a different gender in order to obtain access to worlds not easily attainable in their present gender presentation. But to live for all of one's adult life in a single gender presentation without revealing the sex assigned at birth to anyone, including your own wife or child, is a strong case for believing that Billy Tipton was a man and the only "double life" was the childhood period in which he was forced to disguise himself as a girl. We can't know Billy Tipton's gender identity for sure. Such things were simply not spoken of back then. But Diane sure as hell could have respected the identity that Mr. Tipton chose to portray.… (mere)