Rider is a communications skilled and LGBTQ+ advocate. He lives in College Heights.
I am at #1 Fifth Avenue, considered one of my favourite LGBTQ+ bars in Hillcrest, and I am right here for a drag present. My buddy, Deja Cabrera, is just not solely a District Commissioner for the Standing of Ladies and Ladies, but additionally an area drag artist. Watching her carry out is considered one of my favourite issues to do, and drag performs an essential position in my queer social life. Because the present begins and native performers give it their all – lip syncing and dancing to upbeat music – I’m wondering how anybody would need to ban this inspiring, enjoyable and thrilling artwork type.
Though the universe of phrases to know and outline gender id and expression is huge, drag is a efficiency. Webster defines drag as “leisure by which performers caricature or problem gender stereotypes and infrequently put on elaborate or extreme costumes.” This usually entails “dressing in clothes that’s stereotypical of one other gender, utilizing exaggerated gendered mannerisms, or combining parts of stereotypical female and male clothes.”
Though drag is essentially counterculture at its core, it has had many moments of mainstream success and recognition. By now, most individuals have heard of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” created and hosted by San Diego native RuPaul Charles. Hollywood additionally has a protracted historical past of showcasing the artwork type of drag – “Some Prefer it Scorching,” “The Bugs Bunny Present,” “Tootsie,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” Tyler Perry’s Madea movies – all that includes characters who gown in exaggerated costumes to play with gender. Drag makes enjoyable of the rigidity of gender norms and all of us had enjoyable with it in a method or one other.
Like every artwork type, drag might be lovely, inspiring, foolish, humorous, unhappy, thought-provoking or gross. For the LGBTQ+ group, drag performers might be our champions, our advocates, and our outspoken leaders. San Diego has a wealthy historical past of drag artists as leaders, shifting us ahead as a group. Nicole Murray Ramirez, a nationally acknowledged activist and chief within the Imperial Court docket System, has suggested quite a few elected officers on LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS points for many years. Tootie Thomas, proprietor of Lips San Diego, a well-known drag restaurant, is chairman of the Metropolis of San Diego’s Human Relations Fee. Chad Michaels, winner of the primary season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” commonly raises consciousness and funds for native LGBTQ+ organizations.
Perhaps it is the vodka kicking in – homosexual bars have notoriously heavy flows – however I am getting indignant too. I am indignant that lawmakers on this nation spend their time and vitality passing legal guidelines that ban drag. Final month, Tennessee handed a regulation making it a criminal offense to arrange “grownup cabarets” on public property or inside view of minors. Violators will likely be charged with a misdemeanor or a misdemeanor for repeated violations. The regulation lumps “male or feminine impersonators” along with unique dancers as a result of they’re all “dangerous to minors.” Though the time period “drag” is just not included, the vagueness of the regulation threatens to forestall drag exhibits and anybody whose gender expression falls outdoors the male or feminine stereotype from merely current in public.
A lot of this anti-drag rhetoric started when socially conservative lawmakers caught wind of the “Drag Queen Story Hours,” family-friendly occasions the place performers gown in drag (usually in princess, mermaid, or different whimsical costumes) and carry out their Learn age-appropriate books to kids. . The books usually have themes akin to acceptance, range and variations in understanding. Does that sound detrimental to the well-being of impressionable kids?
Gender policing is just not new to this nation. This regulation, together with comparable legal guidelines being thought-about and handed in different states, is just the newest assault on the LGBTQ+ group. Extra usually, it’s an assault on our freedom of expression. This new “drag-phobia” is just an extension of our nation’s lengthy and shameful historical past of homophobia and transphobia. What’s even worse is that kids are used as pawns. Hypothetical eventualities – involving kids being uncovered to sexually express materials throughout drag exhibits – are getting used to cross legal guidelines limiting what folks can put on and the way they’ll categorical themselves in public.
These legal guidelines ought to alarm us all and we should always all communicate out towards them. Certain, the scope of those legal guidelines could appear restricted at this level, however have not we discovered that rolling again our rights can begin small and escalate rapidly? If that is the start, the place does censorship finish?
When you help the fitting to take pleasure in an excellent drag present, make your voice heard. If you’re an ally to the LGBTQ+ group, please communicate up. When you help freedom of speech, please tell us.
Assist native drag and tip artists generously or donate to the ACLU Defend Drag Fund: https://motion.aclu.org/give/support-drag-defense-fund