by Meghan Serceki
Legislative measures across the United States have sought to limit LGBTQ+ visibility, and now states like Florida, Texas, and Arizona are considering banning kids from being present at drag shows.
Drag, above all else, is an art form. It calls into question society’s preconceived notions about gender and sexual orientation, highlighting the fluidity of it and showing its socially-constructed nature. Anyone can participate in drag regardless of their sex assigned at birth, their sexual orientation, the way they identify. It’s simply about challenging heteronormativity and breaking the boundaries of what society might consider “normal.”
While yes, you might not want to take your child to a Trixie Mattel show after she’s talked about her dislike for kids her entire career, many drag queens use their art to uplift LGBTQ+ youth and to encourage kids to be their authentic selves no matter who others tell them they should be. Banning children from these outlets would prevent them from conveying this important message.
The bans proposed, too, are very vague and wouldn’t just restrict them from spaces intended mostly for queer adults. Rather, it would likely include things like Drag Queen Story Hour which “captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models.”
Threatening to remove these safe spaces and experiences for children simply accentuates the fear, misunderstanding, and prejudice these legislatures hold towards the LGBTQ+ community. Some people just can’t comprehend or empathize with the feeling that you don’t quite fit into the box society stuffed you in, and we as humans tend to act out of fear when confronted with something we don’t understand.
While the LGBTQ+ community has made great strides in the past years and more individuals have felt comfortable being out and proud, resistance to these freedoms has also increased. The attention now largely falls on the upcoming generation – some striving to create a more accepting future and others trying to maintain the status quo and squash a kind of independence that scares them.
Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill and other states’ legislative limits to trans* childrens’ access to care demonstrates this growing pushback and the attempts to hide the possibility of a more inclusive future which we have been fighting so hard for. This ban on childrens’ exposure to drag is yet another attempt to do so. While proponents of this legislation claim they are meant to “protect” children, they do little more than create an atmosphere of shame and isolation for the kids who might have found peers, environments, and forms of expression which allow them to be their authentic selves.
Gender is socially constructed. Heterosexuality is not the only orientation. Many of today’s children will grow up and find themselves not fitting into these boxes. They will grapple with being queer, with not abiding by heteronormativity. Preventing them from going to drag shows won’t change this. It will simply remove a space and an art form that might help them come to terms with their unique identity earlier.