In the last three months, drag performers and people who identify as trans or on the transgender spectrum have been in legal hot water and under the pressure of state lawmakers. Some might infer that this is coming from a history of abuse from said communities or previous incidents that caused uproars in “everyday life”, but that is the farthest from the truth. From volunteering at libraries to read to children to giving entertainment at clubs and brunch; from finding the truth of one’s self to questioning the norms of western ideas of gender expression, this facet of the queer culture has been put in hot water. The reason: lawmakers and politicians think the youth and future generations are in danger.
There have been almost 200 signed bills against the transgender community, with an emphasis on trans youth. Most of them deal with bathrooms and sports, but there have been some, especially in states like Arkansas and Florida that have threatened to take away children if their parents agree to let the child go through their transition. This mostly goes for medical instances, but the conversation of socially transitioning is coming up. As for drag performers (or “crossdressers”), they have been a popular talking point when it comes to conservatives as of late. The most notable, dare it to be called this, trailblazers in the conversation are Tennessee. Even though the language isn’t banning drag queens, reading between the lines isn’t hard to do. Phrases like, “adult cabaret performances” or “male or female impersonators” are listed as things that are prohibited in the state. But not entirely. One if there aren’t any children around.
Drag and other identities that fall outside of the norm of the gender binary have always been taboo issues. It goes against traditionalism and the strict orders of what America, as well as western culture, deems acceptable. There have been instances where yes, there was some level of risque acts at drag shows. Yes, there are times when there are kids there. But that happens sometimes. We can not promise that there won’t be kids in every space that we go into. That’s not logically sound to believe. For the transgender community, almost everything that is being said about the community is false. There aren’t trans people who are out there, openly forcing themselves into bathrooms to take advantage of people or attack them. It is quite the opposite.
The conversation on this topic has too many levels of hypocrisy. Conservatives want to protect children, yet they want to take away instances where they can learn. Banning drag shows and performances because the possibility of a drag artist reading “The Cat in the Hat” to children is lewd and immoral. Conservatives want to protect children, but they want to take away medical accessibility that could save a child’s life. It’s a bunch of lies. What are politicians protecting children from? The freedom of expression? Or do they fear that they’re slowly losing the battle of traditionalism?
Love Stephens
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This article is so good! Loved it! It’s crazy to think that people believe people in drag are harmful to children. If anything they’re limiting their children from being able to express themselves by not exposing them to drag. It lets kids see how you can express yourself freely. Whether that be allowing them to wear whatever they want to wear or simply just being the person they want to be. It’s also quite absurd how drag queens are seen as a threat? A threat is having fun and being yourself openly?
The idea of taking away children from parents for socially transitioning is absolutely ridiculous to me, how can letting one’s child wear the clothes they want or be called the name they want be harmful? Legally enforcing the traditional gender binary is not only unnecessary, but detrimental. People presenting themselves how they want to doesn’t harm anyone, and I can’t call to mind a single example of drag queens being any sort of threat to children. If anything, it is important for children to be exposed to a wide range of cultures and people so that they can develop an open mind and the critical thinking skills needed to decide who they want to be instead of being indoctrinated to believe that anyone who doesn’t conform to social norms is immoral
Great article!
The idea that there are intolerant people that think that drag performers are the dangerous ones for the youth is absolutely insane. If anything, showing them things like that at a young age can better educate them on the spectrum of gender and gender expression and since people aren’t born intolerant, but taught intolerance, why can’t we instead teach acceptance of all. In regards to the problem of kids seeing inappropriate things at drag shows, there are 18+ shows for a reason. Also drag culture can be very risque in general, which is fine since these performances aren’t made for children. And I still don’t understand what has to do with reading a children’s book to a child. How is that now a dangerous act just because the person reading the book is in full glam.