Transphobia in the US: when cabaret becomes a crime

Randy McNally is 78 years old, has several grandfathers and great-grandfathers and is the Vice Governor of the US state of Tennessee. He likes to uphold Christian values ​​and thinks, among other things, that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

On Instagram, on the other hand, he has been enjoying photos of Franklin McClur for years, a 20-year-old musician who often appears naked on his profile, with red lips, black-rimmed eyes and lavish jewelry. McNally comments on things like “You can turn a rainy day into rainbows and sunshine” or post hearts and fire emojis.

Is this a conservative politician acknowledging the social realities of his later days and openly supporting a gay voter? Or so McNally puts it, or does his behavior show the bigotry of the Republican Party, which continues to restrict and sometimes criminalize the living space of queer people?

The Republicans around McNally in Tennessee have just endured the most far-reaching crackdown on transgender people in the entire country. A new law prohibits minors from undergoing sex reassignment treatments, be it surgery or taking hormones.

A second law prohibits drag shows – referred to in the draft as “cabarets for adults” – in public areas and also where children and young people can see them; they must take place at least 300 meters away from schools or kindergartens.

For justification tweeted Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson said: “This bill gives parents confidence that they can take their children to a public or private show and not be caught off guard by a sexualized performance.”

Violators are charged with a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and imprisonment for up to one year. Subsequent offenses are considered a felony – capital offenses – punishable by up to six years in prison.

While Tennessee is a particularly extreme case, other conservatively governed states are taking similar steps. Seven have already passed corresponding laws, with more on the way: Drag shows in public spaces will soon be banned in North Dakota, as well as Texas, West Virginia, Nebraska and South Carolina.

And Florida is also cracking down on allowing minors to change gender — not just through laws, but through a directive from the Board of Medicine and the Board of Osteopathic Medicine, the oversight authorities responsible for physicians. As of March 16, doctors in the state will not be allowed to prescribe sex reassignment drugs or perform surgery on patients under the age of 18. This is against the guidelines of several national associations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Laws targeting transgender people and drag shows have a long history in the United States. In 1863, San Francisco banned cross-dressing, the wearing of clothing assigned to the opposite sex.

Since then, it has always been about using such laws to harass and discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, she said. historian Jules Gil-Peterson in an interview with National Public Radio. How this relates to the freedom of speech and constitutional liberty guaranteed in the First Amendment has never been clarified in court. “It’s more a matter of police judgment than a matter of legal wording.”

The new legislation in Tennessee also leaves room for interpretation. The word “drag” doesn’t appear in the text of the law, so there’s more uncertainty about who it might affect. In Tennessee, particularly in the capital city of Nashville, which has replaced Las Vegas as the unofficial bachelor party capital, drag queens have been a staple of the entertainment industry for years.

But there are also queer bars in the smaller towns of the rural Christian state, where drag performers also perform. According to experts and civil rights organizations, the law should not apply to most drag performances. Or would be easily challenged in court: “None of our performers have ever shown more skin than a Titans cheerleader on a Sunday afternoon,” said David Taylor, who runs drag show bus tours in Nashville, during a hearing on the new law. The Tennessee Titans are Nashville’s football team.

But maybe it’s more about building a threatening background. One that makes anyone’s constituency – especially the evangelicals they don’t want to lose – feel like they’re in the middle of a culture war against the “woke establishment.” It is mainly the Republicans who do it themselves, and they pay special attention to transgender people – so much so that you could speak of an obsession.

Whether rhetorically or legislatively, Republicans are increasingly agitating against transgender rights, flanked by conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, which publish articles with titles like “How Big Tech Makes Children Trans.”

At the CPAC conference, which was mostly Trump supporters gathered last weekend, anger and contempt for LGBTQ+ could be read on T-shirts and banners as well as speeches.

Right-wing commentator Michael Knowles received special applause for saying on stage, “Transgenderism must be completely eradicated from public life.” The horror of the public was all the greater – not only because of the message, but also because of the choice of words.

This momentum is likely to build over the next year and a half until the new president and congress are elected. “Fighting the exploitative transgender industry is now Republican orthodoxy,” he recently said Terry Schilling, president of the right-wing fundraising fund American Principles Project. “We don’t expect this issue to gain more visibility until the 2024 campaign is in full swing.”

The American Principles Project spent nearly $16 million campaigning against transgender issues in health and education ahead of the latest congressional elections. These strategies take advantage of the fact that polls show that Americans have ambivalent views on the subject. About 38 percent think society has gone too far in accepting transgender people, according to the Pew Research Center, while a similar percentage (36 percent) think the opposite is true.

The accompanying music of the law in Tennessee also speaks for the fact that this is mainly about right-wing identity politics. Parallel to the two laws already passed on drag shows and gender reassignment, the Republicans want to ban transgender people from having their gender changed on official documents such as driver’s licenses. And this despite the fact that it could cost the state billions in subsidies if the federal government withdraws it because its guidelines are different.

Not just the deputy of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee must meanwhile be charged with mendacity. Even himself: recently dived in Black and white image which shows Lee as a college student wearing a dress, wig, and pearl necklace. He does not deny that the photo is real. Instead, his office says it was a “happy school tradition.” “What a ridiculous, ridiculous question,” Lee later told reporters of his own drag performance. “Associating something like that with sexualized entertainment in front of children … that’s a very serious problem.”

Also McNally, his deputy, sees himself as a victim of a campaign. “Trying to suggest something inappropriate about a great-grandfather using social media says more about the sanity of the left-wing cop making that implication than it does about Randy McNally,” his rep said. It was The Tennessee Holler, a weblog that regularly opposes Republican law in the state, that made McNally’s remarks public.

Franklyn McClur, whose Instagram profile McNally responds so frequently, is happy about his interest. “He likes who I am,” McClur told the Daily Beast news website. And added: “I hope he can show this kindness by making sure no laws are passed that harm people like me.” It is too late for that now: Governor Lee has already signed both bills.

This article was first published on Zeit Online. watson may have changed the headings and subheadings. Here’s the original.