When Expression is Silenced: Drag Ban Threatens Inclusivity in Pride

By Elizabeth Cannan – Knight 

Drag needs no introduction — it’s one of the most well-known forms of costumed performance in the world and its unique styles have been imitated countless times in popular culture. The exact definition of drag is “clothing more conventionally worn by the other sex, especially exaggeratedly feminine clothing, makeup, and hair adopted by a man,” though drag artists can be of any gender identity and/or modality. The expansion of drag performance was parallel to the progress of the queer rights movement since the allowance of drag was generally a good litmus test to see if those same people would accept other gender-diverse people and people of different sexual orientations. In a way, drag represents distilled queerness at its core, though concerns have been raised by certain members of the community that the over-commercialization of drag introduces more problems than it solves.

Since drag is such a good test of queer acceptance, it’s no surprise it’s been a major point around which the opposition to queer rights revolves. There are many stories floating around of children being brought to explicit drag bars, read to in libraries by nearly nude drag queens, or even assaulted by drag performers. Needless to say, there is very little evidence that many of these stories are true, or that the ones that are true constitute a systemic problem that must be addressed. 

Proponents of queer rights point to the idea that taking one’s child to a drag bar isn’t much different than bringing a child to a restaurant such as Hooter’s, and the overemphasis on drag over these other explicit restaurants is a form of queerphobia; they say that parents should have the discretion of what their child is allowed to see and experience so long as it does not actually harm the child, physically or mentally. These arguments, however, don’t stop the misinformation and misplaced hatred from growing out of control and affecting legislative action, as has happened in Tennessee, with Governor Bill Lee’s signing of a state bill banning “adult cabaret performances” where minors can see them, with any form of drag or “gender impersonators” being classified as adult cabaret.

This law has since been placed on hold in federal court, limiting its true impact, but planners of pride events and drag shows throughout Tennessee are still concerned about future laws and the environment of hatred that has been produced.

One such planner, Charles Uffelman, shared his thoughts with Connect.

“I know we’re looking at doing a lot of big pride events across the states, and initially the drag bans concerned us because they could impact those, but luckily it’s currently held up in court and likely will not be in place when the pride events happen. But it does mean we have to plan and prepare for a time when public drag is outlawed, and what would we do then?”

A full ban on public drag would likely cripple pride events, since drag is a major piece of the pride puzzle, so to speak. However, the drag ban passed in Tennessee had even deeper implications. As Uffelman noted, “We’ve supported the students organizing the LGBT prom at Austin Peay, and there were initial concerns that the ‘gender impersonator’ clause would cause issues with the broadness of the law and the university’s caution in doing anything against the state.”

In fact, many advocates in the queer rights movement have warned that the vague nature of the bill could have been used to criminalize simply being transgender since Tennessee’s official definition of gender and sex are stringent and restrictive. Even this vagueness shows the unfortunately wide scope of the possibilities for future bills, even as this current drag ban fades away. But there is still hope.

“I think they can do harm to us, you can’t get away from that; but there’s a lot we can do if we can stick together, that’s why community is so important. I hope that other people see the things that are happening and join us in solidarity against these laws,” Uffelman said. “That’s a power that will be very hard for them to take away, and we need to use it to the full extent that we can.”

We reached out to Pride festival organizers across the state and here is what they said about the drag ban and its impact on Pride events.

Dickson Pride: We hope that the restraining order will extend so our pageant can have an all-age attendance. If not, it will be 21+ which seems to be the age group most interested in participating.

Pulaski Pride: We do in fact plan to have drag queens at our pride event. We are doing a drag queen meet and greet which is being explicitly billed as G-rated. We felt like it was really important to have drag queens present given the historical context, but we didn’t want to push the boundary of hosting a drag performance. We have also been assured by local law enforcement that they’re not going to be arresting anyone simply because they are dressed in drag, as it would not be against the law as they understand it.

Tri-State Black Pride: We are disgusted by this particular law and most importantly all of the slate of hate bills that are currently being passed in the State of Tennessee. We at Tri-State Black Pride will move forward with all of the planned events i.e. Drag Performances, Drag & Brunch with the restraining order in place or if the law goes into effect. We have counseled with our attorney and we feel confident in our decisions regarding this matter. 

Franklin Pride: Our original plan was to have a drag show as part of our festival. As the application process moved forward, it was made abundantly clear that the application would not be approved if a drag show was included. At that point, it was also pretty clear that the state legislature would be passed, and most of our advisors, especially youth-oriented advisors, expressed the need to have pride either with or without the beloved queens. So we promised the city leaders that we would not have a drag show this year. We will keep our promise.

Columbia Pride:  As of right now we plan on having a drag show and we do not have contingency plans in place. We will have it unless queens back out. We think the law is unjust, unconstitutional,  and unethical. And we will not allow the state to bully us back into a figurative closet. 

Upper Cumberland Pride: Regardless of the ban, we always have a family-friendly drag show, which will be in compliance with the law and have no plans to change anything if the law comes into effect. 

About the Author

Elizabeth Cannan – Knight is a transgender woman and youth advocate for reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights based out of Clarksville, Tennessee. She is the founder of her high school’s Gender-Sexuality Alliance as well as the Youth Coordinator for the Clarksville Kaleidoscope Network and a lead graphic designer for the Montgomery County Democratic Party.