Re: Tennessee becomes the first state to pass a ban on public drag shows

[Ban Sicko Perverts!]

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> Joe Biden helped them fund the coal plants.
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Nashville, TENN. — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed a bill
banning drag shows in public spaces, a measure that will likely
force drag shows underground in Tennessee. Other states across
the country are proposing similar legislation.

Lee gave his signature just hours after the measure passed in
the Senate Thursday afternoon. In the same sitting, Lee signed a
ban on gender-affirming health care for youth in the state.

The announcement comes as a yearbook photo of the Republican
governor in drag recently surfaced on Reddit.

Lee says there's a big difference between wearing a dress at a
high school football game and drag queens wearing a dress on
stage.

Hella Skeleton, a drag performer in rural Middle Tennessee, says
the line is not clear.

"For Bill Lee to say, 'You know, that was lighthearted when I
did it,' that is absolutely absurd when a lot of drag is
extremely lighthearted," Skeleton says. "Apparently when
straight men dress up badly in drag, that's OK. But when gay and
queer and trans people do it, that's not OK."

Republican State Rep. Jack Johnson co-sponsored the bill. He
says, "We're protecting kids and families and parents who want
to be able to take their kids to public places. We're not
attacking anyone or targeting anyone."

Broad language worries advocates
The language of the bill has also drawn concern from the larger
LGBTQ community. Drag performers are defined as "male or female
impersonators." The ACLU of Tennessee's Henry Seaton says that
could impact queer Tennesseans across the board, not just drag
performers.

"It's ... this subtle and sinister way to further criminalize
just being trans," Seaton says.

The ban could also have a chilling effect on Pride festivals.
Outdoor drag is a staple in the Tennessee summer heat. While new
laws typically go into effect on July 1, the bill was quietly
amended in January to take effect April 1 — ahead of Pride month
in June.

Tennessee Tech student Cadence Miller says his generation of
queer people owe a lot to drag queens, and that it's no accident
they're under threat now.

"Historically, drag has been such an integral part of queer
culture," Miller says. "Trans drag performers who were like
pioneers and us getting ... any type of queer rights, like at
all."

Legal challenges ahead
The law calls drag shows "harmful to minors," but the state's
American Civil Liberties Union says that the legal definition
for "harmful to minors" is very narrow in Tennessee and only
covers extreme sexual or violent content.

"The law bans obscene performances, and drag performances are
not inherently obscene," says ACLU of Tennessee Legal Director
Stella Yarbrough. The way the law is written, she says, should
not make drag shows illegal in the state.

"However, we are concerned that government officials could
easily abuse this law to censor people based on their own
subjective viewpoints of what they deem appropriate."

Yarbrough says the ACLU will challenge the law if it is used to
punish a drag performer or shut down a family-friendly LGBTQ
event.

Impacts on local business and beyond
The measure refers to drag shows as "adult cabaret" that "appeal
to a prurient nature." Nashville business owner David Taylor
testified before the state legislature that the drag shows at
his club are not sexually explicit:

"We know this because we have a Tennessee liquor license and are
bound by Tennessee liquor laws. Our more than 20 years in
business, we've not received a citation for one of our drag
performers."

Taylor says the ban on drag will negatively impact Nashville's
economy. Drag brunches in the city's bars are filled with
bachelorette parties, and Music City's infamous fleet of party
vehicles includes a drag queen-specific bus.

"My businesses alone have contributed more than $13 million to
the state in the form of sales and liquor taxes since we
opened," Taylor says.

This legislative session is the third year in a row that the
statehouse has peeled back the rights of transgender
Tennesseans. It has many trans people and families of trans kids
wondering whether staying in the state is worth the fight.

"There's a lot of people who grew up here, and this is where
their roots are. And it's really brutal to be faced with that
sort of choice of, you know, you can either stay here and suffer
or you can leave this home that you've created and all that
you've invested in here," says drag performer Hella Skeleton.
"So, yeah, it's a really tough choice."

<https://www.npr.org/2023/03/02/1160784530/tennessee-ban-public-
drag-shows-transgender-health-care-youth>