At the end of last year, Nashville-based drag queen Perplexity started hearing murmurs about a proposed bill in Tennessee that would ban drag performances across the state. At the time, she didn’t think the bill would pass.
“I hoped that it was one of those horror stories that was just trying to scare us,” Perplexity told VICE News. “Never in 2023 would something like this really happen to us.”
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But then, it did. Last month, Tennessee became the first state to effectively ban drag shows. The bill, signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee, criminalizes “adult cabaret performances” that take place in public or in venues where minors could view them. Adult cabaret performances include topless dancers, strippers, and “male or female impersonators.” Though the law has been temporarily blocked by a state judge, already, GOP politicians in more than a dozen U.S. states, including Arizona, Kentucky, and Oklahoma, are targeting drag.
Perplexity and her coworkers were horrified. “Panic really set in and I was like, ‘Wow, do we really have a job here anymore? Do we even have a safe space here anymore?” said Perplexity. Perplexity works in Nashville on the Big Drag Bus— a party bus where people can watch drag queens perform as they travel through the city, equipped with LED lights and blaring music. Even with everything going on, they want to keep working.
“Panic really set in and I was like, ‘Wow, do we really have a job here anymore? Do we even have a safe space here anymore?”
VICE News spoke with six drag queens about the rise in drag bans, the motivations behind them, and what it’s like to live in Tennessee today as the state becomes increasingly hostile to LGBTQ people. Though Republicans have framed drag queens as a threat, and falsely equated their work with pedophilia and grooming, the drag queens believe that the bans aren’t about the children at all; they’re part of a broader GOP, and often evangelical, attack on LGBTQ people, especially those who are trans and gender nonconforming.
Beyond the drag ban, the state has pushed aggressively to introduce even more anti-LGBTQ legislation: Last month, the state banned gender-affirming care for youth, while a bill that would allow teachers to misgender trans students is making its way through the legislature.
“It’s not about the children. It’s about pushing the LGBTQ community back into the closet. If it were about the children, they would focus on all these other issues that are going on with foster care, gun control,” Nashville-based drag queen Obsinity, who also works on the Big Drag Bus, told VICE News.
Several drag queens also warned that the bans, and the myths surrounding them, could threaten their livelihoods—and their lives.
The language in the Tennessee drag ban is vague, which has led queens to worry about what enforcement will look like. “I don’t do any stripping in my shows or do any sexual simulation on stage, so technically (the bill) doesn’t affect me at all,” Nashville drag queen Veronika Electronika told VICE News. But, she said, there’s no specific list of things drag queens can and can’t do written into the bill.
“So If I am performing a song and I need to adjust my padding or I make a gesture or I move my hips or my body a certain way is somebody that wants to look at it as sexual, can they prosecute that?” she asked. It’s hard to say at this point—and no one really knows.
The language in the Tennessee drag ban is vague, which has led queens to worry about what enforcement will look like.
Tennessee also already has indecency laws that prohibit public nudity and sexual activity. “I don’t really understand how it’s any different than what we’ve already been abiding by this entire time,” Perplexity added.
The drag ban, Tennessee drag queen Tracey Ottomey told VICE News, “is really just endangering our lives. The scariest part is they’re allowing people to think that we’re doing stuff that we’re not doing.” Tracey Ottomey also performs on the Big Drag Bus.
Several drag queens also pointed out that the bill’s language—namely, “male or female impersonators”—could be used to target trans people. Already, states across the U.S. have introduced nearly 500 anti-trans bills for this year’s legislative session alone, and they run the gamut from prohibiting trans people from using bathrooms that correspond to their gender to trans health care bans and bills that equate gender-affirming care to child abuse.
And last week, a shooter opened fire at Nashville’s Covenant School, killing six, including three young children. After police confirmed that the shooter identified as transgender, the right exploited the news to double down on anti-trans hate. They blamed the shooting on trans people—as opposed to guns—despite the fact that 98 percent of mass shooters are cis men, and spread unsubstantiated and harmful claims that hormone replacement therapy leads to aggressive behavior. Right-wing pundits with millions of followers also blamed drag queens, conflating transness and drag—two different and distinct things.
It’s made a tense situation even worse.
As political attacks against trans and gender-nonconforming people increase, so do physical attacks. Last year alone, more than 120 drag events were attacked or threatened, according to a GLAAD report. Hate groups stormed into drag events, far-right pundits like Matt Walsh compared drag queens to “degenerates” and “pedophiles,” and in November, a gunman targeted Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub that was scheduled to host a drag brunch the following morning. The gunman killed five people, including two trans people. Earlier this week, Proud Boys members attacked a drag story hour in Washington, D.C. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis even suggested last year that parents who take their kids to drag shows should be investigated for abuse.
Several drag queens also pointed out that the bill’s language—namely, “male or female impersonators”—could be used to target trans people.
Tennessee GOP Rep. Chris Todd sponsored the bill that restricts drag, after he fought against a Pride drag event and referred to it as “child abuse”—even though he admitted he had no idea what would go on at the show.
“This is a common-sense, child safety bill, and I appreciate your support,” Todd reportedly said. In February, he told other representatives that drag is inherently inappropriate for kids.
Similar narratives have been recycled across the country. “The reason we are singling out drag performances is (because) there are drag performances out there that are targeting children, and that needs to stop,” Arizona GOP Sen. Anthony Kern, who sponsored the state’s proposed drag ban, told local reporters. “The problem is that children are being targeted in many areas, and it is evil against good…and we’ve got to push back on evil.”
“I will do everything I can as a senator in this chamber to protect Arizona children from perversion (and) grooming,” Kern added.
“Make no mistake—this is a war on trans people, in which the right is conflating transness with drag, a grave, downright offensive misclassification with lethal consequences,” California-based drag queen Panda Dulce told VICE News.
Panda Dulce lives in California, a state that declared itself a safe haven for trans people. She’s not facing a drag ban currently, but even in a state that’s ostensibly pro-LGBTQ, she has experienced anti-drag discrimination: last year, extremists targeted a drag story hour she was hosting at a public library.
“These drag bans are overwhelming evidence that demagoguery eclipses facts. And it’s sad to see,” Panda Dulce said.
And yet, many drag queens have said they aren’t going to stop performing—even as politicians try to make it harder for them to do so.
“This is 100 percent a culture attack and it has nothing to do with the kids,” Perplexity said. “I’m always going to perform. I’m not going to let this slow me down. I’m not stopping. I’m not going to stop protecting my trans brothers and sisters. We’re not going anywhere.”
The Big Drag Bus’ founder, Josh Cloud, also said the experience will continue.
“I’m always going to perform. I’m not going to let this slow me down. I’m not stopping. I’m not going to stop protecting my trans brothers and sisters. We’re not going anywhere.”
“We have been advised by our attorneys that we are able to continue to perform and drive through the streets of Nashville, Tennessee, exactly how we had been doing and how we planned on doing,” Cloud said, adding that’s partly because the performances take place inside a private vehicle, as opposed to a public space, and the performances aren’t “lewd.”
Cloud also pointed out that in Tennessee, it could be easier to take your kid to Hooters or Twin Peaks, a local chain where servers are dressed in busty crop tops and short shorts, than it is to take them to a drag event. “If parents want to take their kids (to Hooters), that’s up to them. They have a kids menu. Great, take your kids there, and that’s your decision to expose them to that,” Cloud said. “It is the same thing: If parents want to bring their kids to a drag show, then number one, that’s their decision.” (Not to mention, the very politicians who are outlawing LGBTQ existence in Tennessee have themselves worn drag or supported LGBTQ entertainers.)
“If we’re going to talk about protecting the kids. My question is, what about the queer kids? What about the trans kids? These children are far more at risk of suicide, mental and physical health issues,” said Bella DuBalle, a drag queen from Memphis. “These kids are not more at risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. They’re at risk because we live in this country that allows people to share hateful rhetoric and spread shameful lies over really large platforms.”
