A slew of new, republican-proposed bills have put all ages drag shows in the crosshairs. With public library programs like ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’ gaining national media attention, both positive and negative, republican lawmakers in several states have introduced legislation that would make performing drag in front of minors illegal. These bills come after a rise in anti-drag republican rhetoric, as well as protests at all ages drag shows, some of which have turned violent.
Bills from eight states including, Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia seek to classify drag shows as “adult entertainment,” making them illegal to hold on public property or anywhere that minors are present. Lawmakers in North Dakota as well as Arkansas have passed the bills through part of the states’ congresses and await further voting in the spring. Similar bills in Montana and Idaho appear to be being drafted, according to local news sources.
“These legislators are clearly failing to understand that a drag performance at a bar for adults is very different from a drag story hour for families in an age-appropriate environment meant to foster creative validation and acceptance,” HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow says in a press release.
“These performances vary widely by audience, and while they’ve existed for decades in the face of hate, today’s move by lawmakers reflects the dangerous place to which extremism has led. Bills like these create more stigma, discrimination, and ultimately violence against LGBTQ+ people, particularly transgender and nonbinary people.”
Though the language and focus of these bills vary from state to state, they do share some common provisions. Ten of the bills seek to expand the definition of adult or sexually oriented business to include any establishment which hosts drag shows. This provision would make drag illegal within a certain distance of public schools or residential areas.
Six of these bills explicitly ban minors from viewing or participating in drag performances. A South Carolina bill would make it a felony to allow a minor to view a drag performance, and a Nebraska bill would make it illegal to attend a performance until the age of 19. Other bills would implicitly ban minors by reclassifying drag shows as adult or sexually oriented.
The most concerning part of these bills is the vague language used to determine what counts as drag, a stipulation that could have devastating effects on the trans communities in these states. Most of the bills define a drag performer as a person who performs using dress, makeup, and mannerisms associated with a gender other than the one assigned to them at birth. Nine bills include lip-syncing in their definitions, while most specify that one must be performing for an audience.
This could effectively make any performance by a transgender person considered adult or sexually oriented entertainment. Musical acts with trans musicians may face difficulty finding a venue to perform at. A trans author who recently published their work would not be able to do a book reading in public without it being outlawed. Trans actors would essentially be blacklisted from community theaters, which have been utilizing drag since its inception. Actors in several of Shakespeare’s works, as well as Hair Spray and Peter Pan, are historically cast as members of the opposite sex.
“These attacks on drag shows and performers strike at the heart of our rights to gather, read, and perform together. Drag shows are an exercise of artistic and creative expression that should be free from government suppression,” writes members of the nonprofit organization, PEN America.
“The dangers these bills pose to free expression could not be more clear. We hope legislators in these states will refrain from enacting these discriminatory and absurd bills into law.”
