Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee recently signed the most restrictive bill in the nation to ban drag shows, where men dress as women or women dress as men. Anyone who dares to do it will be charged with a felony and thrown in the clink. No drag shows in Tennessee!
Governor Bill Lee (R-TN) signed one of the country’s most restrictive anti-drag bans into law on Thursday, despite criticism and backlash from LGBTQ advocates denouncing the legislation as harmful and discriminatory.
The Republican-controlled legislature ran roughshod over the democratic process, pushing through an amendment to the previously passed anti-transgender bill, Senate Bill 3 ,which now includes drag performances under a category reserved for adult businesses like strip clubs.
This inclusion will make appearing in public, or “anywhere where a minor could view it,” dressed in drag a criminal offense.
While first offenses will be charged as misdemeanors, subsequent violations will incur felony charges that could land a performer in prison for up to six years.
I sure hope the hit Broadway show “Some Like It Hot” doesn’t plan to visit Nashville. The cast will be arrested.
The Hawkins County GOP must be pretty upset too. Some years back, the county Republicans put on a drag show, and it was their most successful fund-raiser ever. You gotta open the link and see the GOP leaders in drag!
And open this link to see Rudy Guiliani in drag, playing coy with Donald Trump.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Hey Tennessee Republicans, what happened to your sense of humor? The recent ban on “drag” ignores theater, moments of fun, and the right of Americans to live their own lives. You have oversexualized this activity. What are you afraid of?
I guess there will be no As You Like It, Twelfth Night, or Merchant of Venice productions in Tennessee. Oh, wait. As if anyone in this cultural backwater would care.
These are the same people who are introducing legislation to make study of the Constitution mandatory in high school and college.
When drag queens start walking around with AR-15s, then I will start worrying about them.
Yes, Bob.
Tennessee moves forward in its competition with Flor-uh-duh, Indianoplace, and West Podunk to be the most backward, totalitarian human garbage dump.
But what do you expect of a state so far from civilization, named after a people (the Cherokee of Tanasse) whom it exterminated.
A Shakespeare company in Tennessee should immediately mount an authentically Elizabethan production with boys playing all the female roles.
I agree with the law. This whole LGBTQ has gotten way out of hand. If you fall in this category that’s your business, but stop trying to mess with the children.
How has LGBT gooey out of hand? It’s Republican politicians who have made it an issue. If you don’t want to see a drag show, don’t go. The law interferes with the rights of adults who enjoy drag shows. Lighten up.
No one is trying to “mess with the children.” That is extremist, rightwing propaganda. It was a fairly common point of view back in the freaking 1950s, on the radical right. It’s breathtaking that there are STILL people so backward that they think that going after children is common to lesbians, gay people, bisexual people, trans people. It’s idiotic. Only people who inhabit cultural backwaters and don’t actually know lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people have this bigoted view. Real jewels, those folks.
But there you have it, folks. There are actually people so backward that they believe this. They are real. And those folks are the types writing laws in Flor-uh-duh. Prejudice comes from ignorance, from not actually knowing, in this case, from not actually knowing LGBTQ people.
True, Bob. I was thinking the same thing. How many LGBTQ people does this person know? I think that’s what’s so important about learning foreign languages – that you learn that you’re not the only one to inhabit the world. There are people out there who live differently.
Also, in the 30 years I’ve worked in schools, I’ve never heard of a case where a gay person was trying to “mess with the children” – whatever that means.
Extremely backward people, out of touch with the cultural mainstream, look around the United States today, and they see lots and lots of young people who are identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, etc. And they wonder, what is happening? And they conclude that teachers or other adults in positions of authority must be “grooming” young people to take on these identities.
But, ofc, that’s not what is happening. First, there were always a lot of LGBTQ+ people, but they were in the closet. Now, they don’t feel that they have to be. Second, a LOT of people, if given leave to do so, would experiment with and possibly take on other identities. And what has happened, of course, is that there has been a GENERAL CULTURAL SHIFT. These identities are no longer vilified in the popular culture (in music, in movies, on television, in advertising, theatre, in dance, in art generally). Instead, they are celebrated. The backward, rurally isolated folks out of step with the culture generally mistake A GENERAL CULTURAL SHIFT for GROOMING, and they come to these insane, repressive conclusions–that they have to ban library books and drag shows and whatever. They are witnessing A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM–the freedom for people to express their identities and sexuality in much wider, freer forms–and they don’t like it and want to stop it. But they might as well be drawing their whittling knives against the tide that is going to wash their ilk away. LOL.
Wacky…scary…
Wasn’t Tenn. the home of the Scopes Trial almost 100 years ago?
Time machine travel ain’t so fun.
Sure do feel protected now. I bechall can just hear me sigh with relief. I been beatin’ drag queens from my door almost every day.
Roy, you can relax unless the drag queen has an AR-15.
Roy, did you watch the drag show out on by the Hawkins County GOP?
That’s just the Hawkins Co. GOP fundraising, Roy.
A bakery in IL is closing down after a furor, months of controversy, graffiti painting & broken windows, after having announced such a show (which I believe they’d had previously, w/o incident). It is too sad. The owner is now trying to find (she is NOT the sort who backs down in the face of prejudice!) another location in another, more inclusive suburb, w/lower rent.
!!!!!!
It’s come to this. The rightwing is full of crazies. Backward, moronic fundamentalist fruitcake crazies.
https://abc7chicago.com/uprising-bakery-lake-in-the-hills-il-drag-show-canceled/12983602/
This bill was just passed in Indiana:
Restrictions on DOC provision of gender therapy
March 24, 2023
Filed Under: Criminal
The Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee heard HB 1569 on restrictions on DOC provision of gender therapy sponsored by Sen. Donato.The author,Rep. Mayfield, introduced the bill which provides that the Department of Correction may not authorize the payment of any money, the use of any state resources, or the payment of any federal money administered by the state to provide or facilitate the provision of sexual reassignment surgery to an offender patient.
The Indiana Attorney General’s Office testified in support of the bill. The Indiana Public Defender Council testified in opposition. The Department of Correction testified but remained neutral. The bill passed 5-2.
Read the bill at: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2023/bills/house/1569
Filed Under: Criminal
Tagged With: Department of Correction, transgender
Carol,
The attacks on gender care show what hypocrites these Republican legislators are. First, they talk about “parental rights,” but in the next breath they take away the right of parents to get their child the medical care they seek.
Most transgender adults said transitioning improved their lives, a large survey found
As Republicans increasingly challenge the existence of transgender Americans, a wide-ranging survey from The Washington Post and KFF helps build on a growing body of research on what it means to be trans.
The poll included more than 500 people who identify as trans, making it the largest nongovernmental survey of transgender adults.
Among the poll’s biggest findings: 78% of trans adults said transitioning made them more satisfied with their lives. And 66% said they knew they were trans when they were younger than 18.
But more than 6 in 10 said they “sometimes” or “frequently” feel discriminated against. And about half said they were asked unnecessary or invasive questions at work. [Washington Post]
It is very frustrating to read about how much gays and trans people are discriminated against. Will humans ever learn to respect others who are different?
……….
She lost her trans son to suicide. Can a Kentucky lawmaker make her colleagues care?
March 25, 2023
LOUISVILLE — She wanted to hear Henry’s voice again. So she went to her son’s room on an overcast February day and started digging through the boxes he left behind, looking for something he’d written to give her guidance.
Henry Berg-Brousseau always knew what to say.
Eight years had passed since he’d told Kentucky lawmakers how it felt, at 16, to be the only transgender student at his high school. Eight weeks had passed since he’d killed himself, at 24, at his Northern Virginia apartment.
Henry, who’d worked as a press secretary for a major LGBTQ advocacy group, often reminded her to speak in sound bites, to repeat phrases so listeners could absorb the message.
But would the people with power in Frankfort pay attention?
It was an election year in Kentucky, and amid America’s widening cultural rifts, Republicans were pouncing on gender identity issues. Already, almost a dozen new anti-trans laws had been proposed in Kentucky: censoring books on gender, barring doctors from providing hormone therapy to trans teens, banning them from certain restrooms and locker rooms…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/25/transgender-suicide-karen-berg-henry-brousseau-kentucky/
This is a very sad and moving article. Very sad that Dr. Berg’s colleagues in the Kentucky legislature were totally unmoved by meeting and hearing her son. Doubly sad that they were unable to cast a single vote that would stop the harassment of other young people like Henry.
What are they afraid of?
Florida parents file lawsuit against state transgender youth care ban
March 23, 2023
(NEW YORK) — Four Florida families filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court against Florida’s Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, Board of Medicine, and Board of Osteopathic Medicine, over the state ban against gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
The ban prohibits puberty blockers, hormones, cross-hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgery for people under the age of 18. The families behind the lawsuit have transgender youth who would be impacted by the restriction.
The families say they fear for their children’s mental and physical health as some studies have shown gender-affirming care has been found to improve mental health of transgender youth.
According to the press release regarding the suit, the Does are a military family who moved to Florida when John Doe was stationed there as a Senior Officer in the U.S. Navy. Jane Doe said she has concerns about her 11-year-old daughter receiving the care she needs.
“Like most parents, my husband and I want nothing more than for our daughter to be healthy, happy, and safe,” said Jane Doe, concerning her 11-year-old daughter, in the release. “Being able to consult with our team of doctors to understand what our daughter is experiencing and make the best, most informed decisions about her care has been critically important for our family.”
She continued, “This ban takes away our right to provide her with the next step in her recommended treatment when she reaches puberty.”
Another family, called the Boes for anonymity, are also challenging the ban on behalf of their 14-year-old son.
“This ban puts me and other Florida parents in the nightmare position of not being able to help our child when they need us most,” said Brenda Boe. “My son has a right to receive appropriate, evidence-based medical care … That has been ripped away by this cruel and discriminatory rule.”…
https://www.wsjm.com/2023/03/23/florida-parents-file-lawsuit-against-state-transgender-youth-care-ban/
Republicans should decide whether they support parental rights or oppose parental rights to decide on medical care for their children. They are hypocrites.
Red Indiana is the Florida of the north.
…………..
[The Times] Lawmakers vote to deny Hoosier children access to gender-affirming health care
Indiana’s Republican-controlled General Assembly believes in and supports parental rights — except when it doesn’t.
State lawmakers decided Monday to extinguish the ability of Hoosier parents to obtain certain types of medical care for transgender children, even when the parents and their health provider agree gender-affirming care is appropriate and necessary for the child.
Instead, parents of transgender children will be forced to seek medical care out of state, or simply leave Indiana altogether, if Senate Enrolled Act 480 is signed into law.
It was approved 65-30 by the House and previously endorsed 36-12 in the Senate. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb has not publicly indicated whether he intends to sign or veto the plan…
https://www.nwitimes.com/business/healthcare/lawmakers-vote-to-deny-hoosier-children-access-to-gender-affirming-health-care/article_06426cb2-a502-5e8e-b593-0f6bb88e8ab5.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share
Apparently, legislators in Indiana don’t believe in parent rights.
Indiana becomes one of the latest states to restrict transgender health care
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed legislation this week banning gender-affirming care for minors, a day after a similar bill was signed into law in Idaho.
The Indiana law is now being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, and the group’s chapter in Idaho has vowed to take similar legal action.
“More than a dozen other states are considering bills that would prohibit transgender youth from accessing hormone therapies, puberty blockers and transition surgeries, even after the approval of parents and the advice of doctors,” NPR reports. [NPR]
The news comes as the Republican Party increasingly targets LGBTQ+ rights, from transgender health care to drag queen performances.
In Chicago, a massive drag show will take place this month to help raise money against efforts to criminalize such performances. [Block Club Chicago]
No parental rights if parents want gender-affirming care for their children.