A Liberal
Dose
March 16,
2023
Troy D.
Smith
“What is
behind the rage against drag shows?”
I recently heard someone say “Tennessee is currently the
most anti-gay state in America, as judged by legislative activity.” I’m not
sure if that is true, but if not, we have to be up there at the very top. Most
of the legislation, and public outrage, has not been directed at gay people in
general so much as at the trans community and drag queens. I can’t help but
wonder if this is not, in part, because there has been such a swell of public
support (even among conservatives) in the last ten or fifteen years for gay
people, making it harder to score political points or stir up the base by
attacking them, making it necessary to find more specific targets to serve that
purpose.
Because make no mistake, that’s what is happening. In the
last year or two, a large segment of the public seems to have come to the
conclusion that public drag appearances are an imminent threat to their children.
People bombarded the TTU website in protest a few months ago when they learned
there were public drag performances at the Backdoor Playhouse (which, in
reality, had been happening for more than two decades -people “learned” about
it through social media posts of an aspiring conservative politician). People
feel so strongly that, a few weeks ago, some Cookeville church leaders were
willing to stand side-by-side with Nazis to protest it. Now a law has been
passed that essentially bans any cross-dressing public event -equating “drag
queen story hour” at the library with strip clubs and “cabarets”, as if the
same thing happens in both venues.
It does not. Drag performances that are public, especially
the ones geared toward kids, are in no way sexualized or “prurient” (a word the
law uses, which is essentially defined by the beholder and therefore too broad
to be legally meaningful). They are certainly less sexualized than a trip to
Hooter’s or the cheerleaders at any sports event. Are drag shows in private
spaces sometimes sexualized? Of course, but that is not the same thing at all,
nor is it what anyone’s kids are going to be exposed to.
Soon after the law was introduced, a high school photo of
Governor Bill Lee in drag was circulated online. He was furious at the
implication because “it was obviously not the same thing.” I’ve seen
anti-drag-show people saying similar things about Madea, Mrs. Doubtfire, and
Tootsie. “It’s not the same thing!” Why isn’t it? According to the law as
written, it sure seems to be. Yet still people make a distinction… so what is
the difference? If public drag appearances are not sexual or pornographic,
which they are not, and if it is okay for comedians or high school groups
raising money to perform in public in drag… what IS the distinction? The
distinction apparently is, it’s perfectly fine for straight people to do it, it
is only dangerous, disgusting, and wrong if it is LGBTQ people doing it. So it
really is a (not-so-cleverly-disguised) gay thing.
Many parents fear that drag queens are “grooming” their
children, which means preparing them for seduction. I have never even heard of
a drag queen sexually abusing a child -I’m sure it happens, but probably no
more than with the public in general. What they are really afraid of is that
drag queens will somehow make their children gay. Transphobia, homophobia… it’s
all about fear. Not fear of a gay person physically harming you, but fear that
you, yourself, or your child, actually is gay and exposure to LGBTQ people
might bring it out so it must be suppressed.
It’s also fear of change, I think. Society changes,
generation by generation, and it is hard for older people to understand or
accept.
In this, as in so many things, there are people keeping
themselves in office by stoking your fear. Stop falling for it.
--Troy D.
Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at
Tennessee Tech. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.
You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE
A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE
Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com
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