Opinion: Politicians trying to control everyone - that's really a drag

Small-town newspapers used to regularly publish photos of community leaders dressed in drag. Remember those? The mayor or a city councilor would put on a dress with high heels, stick out his hairy leg and encourage the audience to donate to a charity.

Nobody worried about being labeled a sexual deviant. Everybody had a great laugh, and it was for a great cause.

We don’t do that much anymore … laugh, that is.

Nobody’s laughing about drag queens and kings anyway.

The most unfunny part of it all is when government gets involved. About a dozen state legislatures across the country are passing and debating regulations aimed at drag shows. Many of the measures would subject educators, business owners, performers and parents to criminal prosecution for allowing children to view performances, according to Politico.com .

Tennessee this month, for example, restricted “adult cabaret performances” in public or in the presence of children, according to National Public Radio. Such performances are also prohibited from occurring within 1,000 feet of schools, public parks or places of worship.

West Texas A&M University outside Amarillo is the latest hot spot for a debate on whether drag performances are entertainment or sexual depravity.

The university president, in an email to students, faculty and staff, wrote that “Drag shows are derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny, no matter the stated intent.”

WT President Walter Wendler declared a drag show planned to raise money for suicide prevention would not take place on campus.

Protests have followed from the LGBTQ community. They say the shows are a form of free speech and a celebration of gender identity and expression.

Florida is another battleground for this topic.

The Miami Herald newspaper last week reported state lawmakers were hearing from constituents who compare drag performers to child abusers.

One state senator said lawmakers “have a responsibility to protect children from what is patently offensive to the prevailing standards in our communities.”

One assumes Sen. Clay Yarborough was referring to the community that voted for him because there are plenty of communities across the country that don’t think drag artists pose any threats.

Here’s the dictionary definition for “drag,” according to Merriam-Webster:

“entertainment in which performers caricature or challenge gender stereotypes and often wear elaborate or outrageous costumes.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has vowed to hold his state’s businesses accountable if they expose children to “sexualized content.”

Presumably he’s not looking to crack down on adult and children’s beauty pageants, because we all know those are decided in the “talent” phase of the competition.

It’s important to understand drag shows can be as bawdy as pole dancing in a strip club. But many others are as innocent as those old pictures of the football coach in stilettos.

The greater point here is that adults should be allowed to decide for themselves whether they want to watch entertainers in drag, and whether they think the performances are appropriate for their children. It’s not government’s decision.

What’s really going on here is summed up best by Sarah Warbelow of the Human Rights Campaign. She told Politico:

“The tactics and the angle that these (lawmaker) bills are taking are very different … But the goal really feels the same, which is to ensure that young people have no exposure to the LGBTQ community.”

— David Stevens

Publisher