Tennessee law restricting drag is the 1st of many such proposed bills in the U.S. | CBC Radio

Steve Raimo says the purpose of Tennessee’s new anti-drag law is to silence and erase people like him — but it’s not going to work.

Raimo is a Nashville-based drag queen who performs under the moniker Veronika Elektronika. He’s one of several people speaking out against a new state law that restricts where people can perform drag.

“Their ultimate goal is to eradicate LGBT persons and culture,” Raimo told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. “And I’m sorry to tell you, but there isn’t a piece of legislation that’s going to stop me from being who I am.”

Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill on Thursday prohibiting drag performances in front of children at public or private venues, putting the state at the forefront of a Republican-led effort to limit drag in at least 15 states in recent months.

Advocates worry the bill will extend beyond drag shows and be used to target transgender and non-binary performers in general.

What does the law do?

Drag is a type of performance popular among LGBTQ communities in which performers don costumes and makeup to play with gender roles, usually through exaggerated expressions of masculinity or femininity.

It often — though not exclusively — involves cross-dressing, with men performing as drag queens and women as drag kings. 

The Tennessee bill criminalizes what it calls “adult cabaret entertainment” anywhere it could be seen by children, and defines such entertainment as “adult-oriented” performances by strippers, go-go dancers or “male or female impersonators.”

It’s an amendment of existing state law preventing “adult-oriented businesses” from operating within 1,000 feet of schools, public parks or places of worship.

A first offence would be a misdemeanour crime, and a subsequent offence a felony, carrying a sentence of between one  and six years in prison.

Drag can be still performed in age-restricted venues.

Raimo says people trying to paint drag as sexually explicit or adult content have got it all wrong.

Drag is not inherently risque and performers tailor the content depending on the context, just like any other form of entertainment.

“It’s definitely not a sexual art. That is not what we do,” Raimo said. “We are not strippers. We are not adult entertainers, which is what a lot of these laws want to say. And it’s just not what happens. There is a space for that, there are people who do that, but it’s typically not your drag entertainer.”

Anti-drag bills across the U.S.

The Tennessee legislation is one of more than 20 bills across the U.S. targeting drag, which has gained mainstream popularity in recent years thanks to the success of TV series like RuPaul’s Drag Race.

That increased visibility has also come with intense backlash. 

Drag performances — especially family-oriented events like drag story hours at libraries — have become a target for Republican lawmakers and right-wing groups. 

Performers and audience members at these events have repeatedly faced sometimes violent protests and threats — including in Canada.

Supporters of the anti-drag bills say they are intended to protect children.

“It gives confidence to parents that they can take their kids to a public or private show and will not be blindsided by a sexualized performance,” Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, a Republican, said in a statement.

Representative Chris Todd, a Republican, has called drag shows a form “child abuse” when performed in front of minors.

He said he sponsored the bill in the House of Representatives after seeking a court order last year to stop an advertised “family-friendly” drag show during an LGBT pride event at a park in Jackson.

“It was forced to be indoors and 18 and up, and I was asked to come up with legislation that would make this much more clear,” Todd said in the House on Thursday.

Raimo takes issue with that kind of rhetoric.

“Drag queens and trans people are not the dangerous animals that this legislation wants to paint us to be,” he said.

“We all want to protect children, but I want to protect children against child poverty. I want to protect children that are homeless on the street. I want to protect children that are in the foster care system. I want to protect children that are scared to go to school because of school shootings.”

Implications for trans performers

Peppermint, a drag performer and transgender woman who rose to fame on Drag Race, told Reuters that anti-drag bills are just the latest in a long history of legislation that is premised on the false and dangerous premise that LGBTQ people are “grooming” children or seeking to sexually exploit them.

“It’s a straw man, it’s a boogie monster, it’s not really a real thing, so they make up stories,” she said. “The first thing they do is target us, dehumanize us, villainize us, and then they pass legislation against us.”

Tennessee doesn’t allow people to update their gender on their birth control, Raimo said, so trans people could potentially be categorized as “male or female impersonators.”

What’s more, the Tennessee House also passed a law on Thursday that would restrict young people’s access to gender-affirming health care.

Both bills have been sent to Republican Gov. Bill Lee for final approval, but Raimo says the fight is far from over.

“Although the governor may put his pen to paper and sign this into law, we are hoping that here at the local, state and federal level, we have people that will fight for the rights of all Tennesseans … and that we can show the citizens of the state and in other places that legislation based on hate and fear has no place in our government,” he said.

“We have some really amazingly smart and talented people on our side that will hopefully litigate this evil legislation.”