Anti-drag legislation is a legal attack on the LGBTQ+ community

By Mikayla Silcox 

Elm Staff Writer 

Drag shows are more than a night of entertainment featuring dance numbers, comedy, and song. These performances play an important role in creating acceptance within the LGBTQ+ community.  

March 2, 2023 marked the start of an anti-drag domino effect, as Tennessee lawmakers passed the first piece of legislation in the United States to categorize drag shows as “adult cabaret performances.” 

Arizona, Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia are replicating this legislation. These states’ laws will make it a criminal offense for a person expressing a gender identity other than the one they are assigned to at birth to perform on public property in the vicinity of minors, according to a public statement from Texas state Representative Nate Schatzline. 

Laws attacking drag performers are not necessary; they are anti-transgender propaganda. 

Lawmakers are creating this legislation not because of any real threat to children, but out of fear of queer liberation and expression, which has the capability to expose children to people who do not adhere to the status quo.

For some young people, seeing drag performances can provide comfort, since it the art is a form of representation. 

For example, New York drag performer Lady Bunny told The Guardian that drag queen story hours are an integral part of some performances. 

“If anything, drag queens are an amazing lesson to kids – you do not have to be who the world wants you to be. You just have to be yourself,” Supporting All Gender Experiences President sophomore Evan Merk said. 

Targeting drag performances means targeting the LGBTQ+ community as a whole, since drag queens have been a symbol of LGBTQ+ activism throughout American history. 

“Banning drag is not just banning self-expression – it’s banning us. It’s banning transgender people who do not look the way that a cisgender society demands of us,” Merk said, “It was always about taking down transgender people.” 

The wording of these laws has further implications; they criminalize more than just drag.

According to the Texas Tribune, Senate Bill 12 would “fine…business owners who host drag shows in front of children – if those performances are sexually oriented. The bill defines a sexually oriented performance as one in which someone is naked or in drag and ‘appeals to the prurient interest in sex.’” 

The bill wrongfully stereotypes drag performances as sexual or provocative in nature, when they instead work to create a sense of community and acceptance for attendees. This definition of drag attacks transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming artists and stop them from performing. 

Many drag queens have recently responded to the negative legislation. On March 8, host of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” RuPaul posted an Instagram video encouraging viewers to vote and fight against these anti-drag laws. 

“Drag queens are the Marines of the queer movement. Don’t get it twisted and don’t be distracted. Register to vote so we can get these stunt queens out of office and put some smart people with real solutions into government. And by the way, a social media post has never been as powerful as a registered vote,” RuPaul said. 

Lawmakers are fighting to make transgender individuals feel isolated and unheard, and the influx of anti-transgender laws are targeting creative outlets that bring community and acceptance to those who need it. 

Drag shows are often a fun and welcoming time for both performers and attendees, and it is disappointing to see the government working to ban this type of joy. 

The new legislation banning drag is a blatant attack on the LGBTQ+ community, covered up by unjustified excuses. Placing these harmful stereotypes on the community – that all drag queens are dangerous – are damaging to the public perception of the LGBTQ+ community and, even more so, to members of the community. 

Kids are in more danger of being underrepresented and heard than they are of witnessing a drag show.  

Drag performances serve as a way to celebrate the identity of the performer, and to remove this would indicate that certain identities should not be appreciated.  

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. 

Photo Caption: “RuPaul’s Drag Race” host RuPaul (third from left) spoke up on Instagram about recent anti-drag legislation, encouraging viewers to fight and vote. 

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