Republicans across the country have a new target: drag shows. In Missouri, one bill would ban drag performances on public property or anywhere children could see it; another would require any business hosting a drag show to be labeled a sexually oriented business.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey recently said on radio station KFTK that drag shows are “inherently sexual” and that “we have statutes on the books that guide how human sexuality should be taught.”
Jordan Braxton, director of diversity, inclusion and outreach for Outreach Pride STL, tells KMOX that Bailey has things all wrong. She points out that drag shows are not a new phenomenon by any means — even dating back to the Elizabethan time and Shakespeare plays — and that kids haven’t been shielded from them.
“Lawmakers think we're stupid, like we don't know how to censor ourselves when there's children around, we don't know what is appropriate for when kids are around,” Braxton said. “Most drag queens that I know, they have jobs, we all have jobs. We know how to conduct ourselves and conduct ourselves around children.”
Braxton has been in Jefferson City testifying against the bills that take aim at the LGBTQ community. She said she’s been telling lawmakers that banning drag shows takes away a parent’s rights.
“If a parent wants to bring a child to a drag show, that's okay. Because you're teaching diversity, you're showing that people are different,” she said. “You're showing that drag queens are normal. People often forget that we’re human beings, and it's a creative expression. It's an outlet.”
She said that the response from most lawmakers was that drag shows are sexually charged. She also said lawmakers admitted to never having attended a drag show, only seeing videos of them.
“Well, of course, you can edit video or just show what parts of the drag show you want to see,” she said. “So unless you've been to a drag show, and not just one drag show, but a drag show where kids are present, then sometimes you shouldn't say anything until you have all the evidence.”
She added that something she noticed was a lack of people testifying in support of the bills banning drag — and one of the bill’s co-sponsors even removed his name from it.
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