Facts: Drag shows
A drag show is a performance where men perform dressed as women or women perform dressed as men. Often the performances are held in bars or nightclubs, but can also take place in other locations.
Nudity is not typical for drag shows. However, it is common for the performers, sometimes dressed as famous people of the opposite sex, to mime to music and dance.
The genre has a strong foothold in, among other places, the United States, but in recent years has seen increased spread, among other things through television programs and films.
Source: The National Encyclopedia
The new law goes into effect in Tennessee at the turn of the year. It prohibits drag shows in public places and other places where children can be. In the text of the law, the word “drag” is not explicitly stated, but that persons who “impersonate women or men” are covered.
The vague wording makes many wonder how the everyday life of transsexuals and people who do not fit into traditional gender roles will be affected. Critics have singled out the law as discriminatory against LGBTQ people and pointed out that it may constitute a violation of the constitution.
Dancing in the grocery store?
Drag artist Story VanNess calls the writing an assault on the queer world in Tennessee.
— If I have music in my headphones and dance around the grocery store, does that count as a performance? We are afraid that this will not only limit our access to art, but also to life, she tells the news channel CNN.
— I think that is the point. They are trying to legislate us out of existence, they are trying to make it so that we cannot leave our homes.
Drag shows have become popular among the general population in the United States in recent years, including through reality shows such as “RuPaul’s Drag Race”. Drag artist Shangela, who has been in “RuPaul’s Drag Race” among other things, says that people today see drag to a greater extent than before on television, in movies and in real life.
— It leads to conversations that have not had to be held before, And some people are afraid of that, she says to CNN.
Want to protect children
But the phenomenon has also created anger in value-conservative circles and among some Republican politicians, where many find the form of entertainment offensive.
Tennessee Republican state senator Jack Johnson, who is behind the bill, claims it is about protecting minors.
“We do not ban drag shows. We protect children from sexually explicit content in public places,” he writes Twitter.
In November, Johnson said he wanted to introduce the law to prevent drag shows that are “sexual in nature” from being performed where children may be, the online newspaper writes The Hill.
Drag performers are also common in Europe. The picture was taken at a performance at Norway’s equivalent of Melodifestivalen 2006. More states?
Tennessee is the first state in the United States to pass a law against drag shows. But other conservative governments are on the same line. Bills have been introduced in Texas, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Carolina, among others.
David Taylor, who owns the Big Drag Bus Tour company in Nashville, Tennessee and also bars where drag shows are held, has defended the performances as an art form. During a hearing on the legislation, he emphasized that a drag show does not have to involve nudity or be specifically aimed at adults.
“Not one of our performers on this bus has ever shown more skin than a cheerleader for the (NFL team) Titans on a Sunday afternoon,” he said, according to The New York Times.