The student union at the University of Guelph has gained international attention — much of it negative — for criticizing the classic rock song “Walk on the Wild Side” as “transphobic.” The university’s Central Student Association apologized via social media for playing Lou Reed’s 1972 hit at a campus event. “It’s come to our attention that the playlist we had . . . on Thursday contained a song with transphobic lyrics,” the student association said in a May 12 Facebook post that has since been deleted. “We now know the lyrics to this song are hurtful to our friends in the trans community and we’d like to unreservedly apologize for this error in judgement (sic).”The student association said the person who selected the song for the playlist did not “know or understand” the lyrics, which include the lines, “Holly came from Miami F.L.A. . . . Plucked her eyebrows on the way, shaved her legs and then he was a she. She said, ‘Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.’” In the days since the statement was posted, news outlets around the world have picked up the story. Friends, colleagues and biographers of Reed have come to the late singer-songwriter’s defence. “The song was a love song to all the people he knew and to New York City by a man who supported the community and the city his whole life,” said Reed’s former producer Hal Willner in an interview with the Guardian. Howard Sounes, author of Notes from the Velvet Underground: The Life of Lou Reed, told the Star that Reed “cannot fairly be accused” of being transphobic.“Lou Reed was a difficult and sometimes unpleasant person, but transphobic he was not,” Sounes said. “Reed was a bisexual who had close friendships, and conducted love affairs with, (transgender) men.”In the mid-1970s, Reed was in what was essenti ...
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