Tennessee governor to ban drag shows – despite photo of him dressed in drag
Bill Lee says he will sign law criminalizing drag performances despite emergence of picture from 1977 high school yearbook
Governor Bill Lee was asked on Monday if drag was ‘only illegal when gay people do it’.
Tennessee’s governor, Bill Lee, is facing accusations of hypocrisy after a photo of him dressed in drag went viral days after the politician confirmed that he would sign legislation criminalizing drag performances.
Lee, a Republican, announced on Monday that he plans to sign a bill passed previously by his state’s legislature that prohibits drag in public and in front of children. Lee also said he would sign a bill that bans gender-affirming care for Tennessee minors.
That announcement came two days after a picture of Lee dressed in drag during his high school days went viral on Reddit. In the 1977 picture, a young Lee wears a wig, a cheerleader’s uniform and a pearl necklace. The high school yearbook photo is captioned: “Hard Luck Woman”.
The Reddit user who created the original post noted that they were motivated to share it given the governor’s hypocrisy, according to NBC News.
“I’m sure [the bill] will be signed but, the hypocrisy needs to be poked at before they come after Play in Nashville or even Rocky Horror at Belcourt twice a year,” wrote the user, referring to a Nashville nightclub and the musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Lee has not confirmed that the newly seen photo is of him.
But Lee’s office has responded to questions about whether it is hypocritical to sign legislation banning drag performances when the governor has dressed in drag himself.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, Lee’s office said that “lighthearted school traditions” as seen in the yearbook photo should not be “conflated” with what the bill is banning. A spokesperson claimed that the comparison was “dishonest and disrespectful to Tennessee families” without elaborating on how that was so.
In a press conference on Monday, Lee was asked if he remembered “dressing in drag in 1977” and if drag was “only illegal when gay people do it”.
In the recorded exchange, Lee said several times that it was “ridiculous … conflating something like that to sexualized entertainment in front of children, which is a very serious subject”.
Once signed, the new law would prohibit “adult cabaret performances” in public or in front of children, with such cabaret performers including “topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators”, the Tennessean newspaper reported.
The first offense under the bill would be a misdemeanor, and the second would be charged as a felony.
Critics of the bill have called it unconstitutional and warned that it is vague enough to target gender non-conforming and transgender people.
In the US, states have passed or proposed more than 100 laws targeting LGBTQ+ rights, especially those of transgender people, NBC News reported.
Republican legislators have also targeted drag shows, with lawmakers in at least eight states taking steps to either restrict or ban them entirely.
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Tennessee governor to ban drag shows – despite photo of him dressed in drag | Tennessee | The Guardian
Bill Lee says he will sign law criminalizing drag performances despite emergence of picture from 1977 high school yearbook
Governor Bill Lee was asked on Monday if drag was ‘only illegal when gay people do it’.
Tennessee’s governor, Bill Lee, is facing accusations of hypocrisy after a photo of him dressed in drag went viral days after the politician confirmed that he would sign legislation criminalizing drag performances.
Lee, a Republican, announced on Monday that he plans to sign a bill passed previously by his state’s legislature that prohibits drag in public and in front of children. Lee also said he would sign a bill that bans gender-affirming care for Tennessee minors.
That announcement came two days after a picture of Lee dressed in drag during his high school days went viral on Reddit. In the 1977 picture, a young Lee wears a wig, a cheerleader’s uniform and a pearl necklace. The high school yearbook photo is captioned: “Hard Luck Woman”.
The Reddit user who created the original post noted that they were motivated to share it given the governor’s hypocrisy, according to NBC News.
“I’m sure [the bill] will be signed but, the hypocrisy needs to be poked at before they come after Play in Nashville or even Rocky Horror at Belcourt twice a year,” wrote the user, referring to a Nashville nightclub and the musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Lee has not confirmed that the newly seen photo is of him.
But Lee’s office has responded to questions about whether it is hypocritical to sign legislation banning drag performances when the governor has dressed in drag himself.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, Lee’s office said that “lighthearted school traditions” as seen in the yearbook photo should not be “conflated” with what the bill is banning. A spokesperson claimed that the comparison was “dishonest and disrespectful to Tennessee families” without elaborating on how that was so.
In a press conference on Monday, Lee was asked if he remembered “dressing in drag in 1977” and if drag was “only illegal when gay people do it”.
In the recorded exchange, Lee said several times that it was “ridiculous … conflating something like that to sexualized entertainment in front of children, which is a very serious subject”.
Once signed, the new law would prohibit “adult cabaret performances” in public or in front of children, with such cabaret performers including “topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators”, the Tennessean newspaper reported.
The first offense under the bill would be a misdemeanor, and the second would be charged as a felony.
Critics of the bill have called it unconstitutional and warned that it is vague enough to target gender non-conforming and transgender people.
In the US, states have passed or proposed more than 100 laws targeting LGBTQ+ rights, especially those of transgender people, NBC News reported.
Republican legislators have also targeted drag shows, with lawmakers in at least eight states taking steps to either restrict or ban them entirely.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I was hoping you would consider taking the step of supporting the Guardian’s journalism.
From Elon Musk to Rupert Murdoch, a small number of billionaire owners have a powerful hold on so much of the information that reaches the public about what’s happening in the world. The Guardian is different. We have no billionaire owner or shareholders to consider. Our journalism is produced to serve the public interest – not profit motives.
And we avoid the trap that befalls much US media – the tendency, born of a desire to please all sides, to engage in false equivalence in the name of neutrality. While fairness guides everything we do, we know there is a right and a wrong position in the fight against racism and for reproductive justice. When we report on issues like the climate crisis, we’re not afraid to name who is responsible. And as a global news organization, we’re able to provide a fresh, outsider perspective on US politics – one so often missing from the insular American media bubble.
Around the world, readers can access the Guardian’s paywall-free journalism because of our unique reader-supported model. That’s because of people like you. Our readers keep us independent, beholden to no outside influence and accessible to everyone – whether they can afford to pay for news, or not.
Tennessee governor to ban drag shows – despite photo of him dressed in drag | Tennessee | The Guardian
