It Is Just A Means To Get Their Way

All these laws against drag shows are just a means for the Republicans to achieve their real goals.

How drag bans fit into larger attacks on transgender rights

Drag queen and historian Dr. Lady J discusses how “trans people have always been attacked using these drag bans”

Center for Public Integrity

By Ileana Garnand

April 14, 2023

At least 14 state legislatures have proposed bills targeting drag performances, part of the record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills filed this year.

Tennessee and Arkansas have both enacted laws placing strict limits on drag shows. They share similar language, restricting “adult-oriented” performances — sometimes explicitly including “male or female impersonators” in the definition. The bulk of the proposed and passed policies ban these performances from public property and cut them off from public funds.

Well first off,  a gay man in a dress is not “adult-oriented” performances, it is not obscene, what the Republicans are really doing is trying to force us back into the closet and criminalizing us. Even though they include “male or female impersonators” in the bill the Supreme Court definition of “adult-oriented” performances does not fit crossdressing. There is no no nudity nor simulated s*x.

When I look at these laws, I look at the way that things are defined by crossing over from assigned sex at birth, not the gender you identify as. … It makes it feel like any person who is trans, who can be noticed, can then be hauled away for doing drag in public. That to me has been a much larger concern than the drag ban. Because the drag ban is bad, but it’s not saying all drag goes away forever. It’s saying we take it out of certain spaces and that is all truly terrifying in and of itself.

[…]

It makes it feel as though these attacks are not attacks on drag. … What I see when I look back at drag bans over time is they seem to come forward always [when] trans people are making strides in the public realm. … Each time these things come up, whether it’s the ‘30s, the ‘40s, the ‘50s, the ‘60s, these things are really attacks on trans people trying to live their lives. Because especially before modern times like the ‘90s forward, many trans people would have called themselves drag queens.

Then we have look at what the conservatives have been trying to stop ever since the first Pride parade in 1970.

But so, they come after that because it seems frivolous. … These laws will be put in place to keep Pride from happening. These laws will be put in place to keep us from marching in the streets for our rights, so that when we as trans people stand up to say “We’re not going to let gender-affirming care be taken away from us, we’re not going to let you demonize us in further ways,” they can say, “Ah, looks like you’re dressed in drag at public at this protest, how about we [arrest you].”

You don’t think that they will ban Pride parades. well it already happened! The Miami Herald reported that “Officials in a Florida city have canceled a gay pride parade...”

There is something that some people find upsetting about drag in general. It’s an easier thing to attack because it’s a thing that people can wrap their head around in an easier fashion, because they have been dealing with RuPaul’s Drag Race for like 16 seasons. So it’s very easy to demonize. Trans people are much harder to demonize. This is why they’re not trying to make direct attacks on trans existence in the way they write the legislation. They are trying to do that, but the way they tried to write the legislation is: “We’re taking away this type of opportunity. We’re taking away this drag opportunity. We’re taking away the opportunity for hormones, we’re taking away the opportunity for puberty blockers.

Make no mistake, the Republicans have shown that this is just the beginning and we are going to see a ton of new anti-LGBTQ+ laws and the court cases against them are going all the way to the Supreme Court where there is a good chance that they might win.