PHOTO COURTESY OF BELLA DUBALLE ON FACEBOOK

Bella DuBalle is a drag performer from Memphis, Tennessee.

Kayla Lindsey is a junior creative media productions major from Springfield, Missouri

The first time I had ever heard the term “drag queen,” I was 8 years old. I was browsing some entertainment magazines and they had done a story on the drag queen Marsha P. Johnson. I remember not understanding the content and asking my father what the story was about. 

My question was met with some kind of answer along the lines of “that stuff isn’t appropriate,” and proceeded to put the magazine in the trash. I never thought too much about that moment until a few years later, when “RuPaul’s Drag Race” became more prevalent on television. 

As I started to dissect the show, I remembered the conversation I had with my father. My mind circled back to the statement he made. I couldn’t comprehend why this was considered “inappropriate.” Flash forward to today, and the topic of drag queens being inappropriate is still being discussed by families all over the United States.

Last Thursday, the Tennessee Senate approved a bill that prohibits “adult cabaret acts,” also known as drag performances, on public property in order to keep children away from them. Violators can face a misdemeanor, while repeat offenders will face a felony. 

Governor Bill Lee has declared he will sign it after the Tennessee House passed it last week. The law’s effective date is July 1, 2023.

The bill in Tennessee is the first of almost a dozen similar bills that are currently being debated in state legislatures controlled by the GOP. Similar prohibitions are being considered in a number of other states, including Idaho, North Dakota, Montana, Oklahoma and Arkansas. 

The Arkansas Senate approved the bill 29-6. The House will now consider it. Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers, and activists predict that Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders will sign the law.

Republicans argue that the shows encourage kids to engage in inappropriate sexual ideas and imagery; however, Democrats dispute this claim and argue that the new legislation is discriminatory against the LGBTQ+ population and may infringe on the First Amendment rights. 

LGBTQ+ groups believe the legislation under discussion contributes to a heightened state of worry for the community, with transgender issues and drag culture becoming increasingly prevalent. These shows have occasionally been the subject of attacks. 

Senator Jack Johnson, a Republican from Tennessee who sponsored the bill, informed CNN that the legislation “is not anti-drag. It’s pro-child. I am carrying the legislation to protect children from being exposed to sexually explicit drag shows that are inappropriate for minor audiences. It is similar to laws that prohibit children from going to a ‘strip club’”. 

A representative for Lee elaborated further to the Daily Beast, stating, “The bill specifically protects children from obscene, sexualized entertainment and any attempt to conflate this serious issue with lighthearted school traditions is dishonest and disrespectful to Tennessee families.” 

Drag is the practice of dressing and acting as a different gender, mainly for entertainment purposes like humor, singing, dancing or lip-syncing. Drag’s origins may be found in William Shakespeare’s time when male actors took on feminine characters. The phrase’s origin is unclear, although the most popular theory for the term is that someone noticed how male performers’ stage attire would drag on the ground.

In the CBS article, “The History of Drag and How Drag Queens Got Pulled Into Politics,” when answering the question, “Is Drag Sexual?” they state, “Many drag opponents cite nudity in their objections. Every performer makes different choices, but drag queens often wear more, not less, clothing than you’d see on a typical American woman of the 21st century, at a public beach or on network TV.” The article further explains that the performers point out that the opposition to drag sees the cross-dressing part as sexual deviancy.

Drag performer Bella DuBalle, who resides in Memphis, is fighting against the bill, expressing that if it becomes law, it would criminalize drag. DuBalle stated that she fears for her life in an interview with Insider³. A second offense, according to the proposed law, would be a Class E felony, which is punishable by up to six years in prison. 

DuBalle, who identifies as nonbinary outside of drag, expressed concern that the way she dresses in her everyday life would get her in trouble with the law if it is passed. They vocalized this fear, saying, “I’m scared if I’m wearing gender-nonconforming clothing in Kroger and somebody has their kids and they clutch ’em tight and call the cops, I could get arrested just for presenting the way I present in my daily life.”

As someone who has multiple friends in the drag community and has attended more drag shows than I can count, I truly fear for these performers. The drag community uses drag as a form of art to express themselves. Why is banning them from public spaces “saving the children?” It truly baffles me that all of the significant strides we have made for the LGBTQ+ community over the last decade are backtracking. These laws can truly affect the future of my generation as well as the generations after us. One can only hope that society will see these laws’ shortcomings and fight to have them changed.

“If I hadn’t been a woman, I’d be a drag queen for sure.” – Dolly Parton

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