One of the waiters had two friends, Miss Ronnie and Miss Burma. But they weren't actors. They were performers and entertainers. This was someone who was going to have to go toe to toe with DeNiro. He approached Hoffman who he says understood implicitly that Rusty was a man who thinks he's a woman trapped in the wrong body.
Transvestites are just guys who dress up as women.
They do it on the sly. They're very happy to be men. A transgender is actually a man who believes he's a woman. A drag queen is a job. They can't wait to get out of their clothes.