Editor:

Not too long ago, putting on blackface and hamming it up in public was considered fun and entertaining. If you pretended to be black you could act like a fool. Now we get drag fundraisers and parades, the minstrel shows of our time. When Dixon Summers complained that Gay Pride "was a great parade seriously marred by the presence of the Sisters, including one with women's underwear on his head" (Mailbox, Sept. 15), he was attacked self-righteously by four local "fun lovers." Would it be "fun," too, to bring back minstrel shows?

Dixon Summers and his gay friends are seeking equal rights and respect, but The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence insist on making them the butt of a very tired and demeaning joke.

Gordon Inkeles, Bayside