Tennessee governor to sign ban on drag shows
NASHVILLE,TENN.— Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced he will sign a controversial bill that would restrict where drag shows can be performed, despite claims of hypocrisy as a picture purported to show the governor in drag is circulating.
Legislation was recently approved by the Tennessee House and Senate, although differences in the bills need to be ironed out.
They would ban “adult-oriented entertainment” that is “harmful to minors” from public property and places where they might be seen by children. It specifically mentions “gogo dancers, exotic dancers, strippers” and “male or female impersonators” — the latter of which includes drag performers.
Legislators claimed such performances are harmful to children, The Tennessean reported.
But before the governor could confirm Monday he would sign the legislation, a Reddit user shared an image that appears to show Lee as a high school student wearing a short-skirted cheerleader’s uniform, a pearl necklace and a wig, posing on a school sports field next to two girls in men’s suits, NBC News reported. The caption says, “Governor Bill Lee in drag (1977 high school yearbook).”
In a later post, the Reddit user, who did not respond to NBC’S request for comment, referred to the drag bill on the governor’s desk, saying, “I’m sure it 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,” referring to a popular Nashville dance club and the gender-bending musical “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” NBC said.
At a news conference Monday, Lee brushed aside questions about hypocrisy, saying comparisons between the performances targeted in the bill and an old yearbook picture of him dressed in woman’s clothes were “ridiculous.”
Lee was asked if he knew of any specific troubling instances or performances that merited the law change, and Lee referred to a nearby elementary school.
“I think the concern is right there in that building,” Lee told reporters as he stood near the entrance to Dr. William Burris Elementary School in Hendersonville. “Children that are potentially exposed to sexualized entertainment, to obscenity, and we need to make sure that they’re not.”
A spokesman for the governor later expanded on Lee’s remarks.
“The bill specifically protects children from obscene, sexualized entertainment, and any attempt to conflate this serious issue with lighthearted school traditions is dishonest and disrespectful to Tennessee families,” Jade Byers said.
Opponents of the bill argue it is unconstitutional and that it discriminates against drag performers by signaling without evidence that drag shows — which can run the gamut from sexually explicit to family-friendly — may be harmful to children.