It seems like every Republican state has at least one anti-drag show ban on the drawing board.
Why proposed laws targeting drag shows are proliferating in America
A new front has opened up in the country’s culture wars
The Economist
February 12th 2023
Last month “RuPaul’s Drag Race”, a reality show, began its 15th season on television. In it, contestants compete in costume to become the next “drag superstar” and win $200,000. Meanwhile, lawmakers across the country are engaged in a different sort of race: to restrict drag performances in the name of protecting children. At least 36 bills in 15 states are proposing rules that would make it harder for people to perform in drag (see map).The drag drama may sound like a sideshow. But it offers a glimpse into lawmakers’ political thinking, the next phase of the culture wars and the way the media (including social media) fuel outrage.
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Some states, including Texas, are seeking to classify any venue hosting a drag show as a “sexually oriented business”, which brings restrictions on where it can be. The goal is to reduce the number of places willing to host drag shows, says Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston. Arkansas is among states trying to prevent public funds from going to drag shows, in response to news that some cities have used taxpayer money to sponsor drag-queen story hours. New York City reportedly spent around $200,000 on them from 2018 to 2022.
The most extreme proposals would stop public drag shows and make it a crime for a minor to see one. In Missouri, North Dakota and Tennessee, exposing a minor to a performance would become a felony, which carries jail time. “I believe that the lgbtq community and drag queens have the right to assembly, to organise, but they do not have the right to organise with a prurient interest in front of children,” says Brandon Prichard, a legislator in North Dakota who co-sponsored the drag bill.
Of course they are saying this is to protect our children… but I ask from what?
For the right-wing conservative anything LGBTQ+ is obscene!
And the laws are writing so broadly that the laws would ban Tootsie, Bosom Buddies reruns, and Milton Berle!
Lastly, the kerfuffle over drag illustrates how the attention economy operates in America. “This is just showing up at the legislatures but has already been in practice going on in conservative media for some time now,” says Mr Block of the aclu. Fox News has turned drag shows into a prime-time subject. Its most popular host, Tucker Carlson, often gives a platform to guests who rail against “sexualising” children by exposing them to drag. From June 2022 until February 2023, Fox News spent about a quarter as much time covering drag, drag queens and transgender people as it devoted to Ukraine.
On social media, meanwhile, Libs of TikTok, a Twitter account with 1.9m followers, posts mockery about drag queens and trans people. Last June, men believed to be associated with the far-right Proud Boys showed up at a drag-queen story hour in San Lorenzo, California, after Libs of TikTok tweeted about it. One man wore a shirt with an image of an ak-47 and the slogan, “Kill your local pedophile”.
The Republicans says that we are “grooming” the children but in reality they are, they are groomer the children to become bigots. To hate anyone who are not like they are; white straight, and foreigners.
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