LGBTQ rights are under attack in Tennessee.
During its current session, the Tennessee General Assembly has already passed legislation banning gender-affirming care for trans youth and banning drag shows that “appeal to prurient interest” on public property outside of age-restricted venues. Gov. Bill Lee quickly signed both bills into law on March 2 without much in the way of ceremony or statement. The drag legislation will go into effect on April 1, and the trans health care legislation on July 1.
Not long before the governor signed the legislation, a photo emerged of Lee during his years at Franklin High School. In the photo, which was discovered in a 1977 Franklin High yearbook, Lee is dressed in women’s clothing; in drag, in other words, on public property, in front of minors. This sort of thing was and is a not-uncommon sight at public high schools — powderpuff football and various homecoming traditions often see boys dressing in cheerleaders’ uniforms or girls wearing men’s suits. But activists quickly seized on the hypocritical nature of the photograph.
The photo went wildly viral. At a press scrum not long after, Lee called a question about the photograph “ridiculous,” saying, “Sexualized entertainment in front of children is a very serious subject.” Of course sexual entertainment in front of kids is very serious and very unacceptable — that’s why obscenity laws exist. And with obscenity laws already in place, critical thinkers might find themselves asking, “Why, then, do we need additional laws targeting drag performers specifically?”
A GoFundMe campaign organized by Tennessean Zachary Stamper quickly sprang up last week aiming to “purchase billboards across the state of Tennessee” for the purpose of publicizing Lee’s cross-dressing high school shot. As of this writing, the campaign has already raised roughly $70,000. Stamper has also indicated that he would like the billboards to include “statistics for the foster care system here in Tennessee.” (As the Scene and others have previously reported, the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services is understaffed and underfunded, leaving children to sleep on the floor in state office buildings — seemingly a significantly more dangerous and unfit situation for kids than any drag show could be.)
Queer Tennesseans and allies are feeling justified rage over the Tennessee General Assembly’s slate of anti-LGBTQ legislation. Last week a banner featuring a swastika, homophobic and transphobic slurs, and the white-supremecist slogan known as the “14 words” was seen hanging from a Chestnut Street bridge near downtown Nashville. According to photographs posted to social media by Tennessee Holler and others, the banner thanked Gov. Lee for “tirelessly” working to oppress gay and trans people. People who know Nashville well know that bigotry and oppression are unfortunately threaded into the city’s history. Nevertheless, seeing that level of deplorable hate speech — realizing that bigots of the highest order feel invigorated and energized by this legislation — speaks volumes.
The ACLU of Tennessee has announced its intent to challenge the anti-trans-health-care law in court, and the day after Lee signed the bill into law, the LGBTQ rights group Campaign for Southern Equality issued a release. “The passage of this law cutting off trans young people’s access to life-saving care is devastating,” says the Campaign for Southern Justice’s Ivy Hill in the release, “but it won’t stop our community from holding and supporting each other.”
In addition to awarding $250 “rapid response grants” to trans youth and their families, Southern Equity also issued a list of resources available to those affected by the legislation. Find more information at southernequality.org/TNResources. Below, we’ve listed a number of LGBTQ community organizations, many of them provided by the Campaign for Southern Equality’s list, and many of them open to accepting donations. If you’re considering sending your money to a campaign to put up billboards that Lee will likely dismiss, consider donating to one of these causes instead.
As a friend recently put it to me, you can’t shame the shameless. Tennessee’s Republican supermajority likely won’t alter its course because of a few billboards. But offering your support for these causes could indeed positively alter the course of young LGBTQ Tennesseans’ lives.
Campaign for Southern Equality
PFLAG
GLSEN Tennessee
Just Us at The Oasis Center
Vanderbilt Program for LGBTQ Health
vanderbilthealth.com/program/program-lgbtq-health
Nashville CARES Sexual Health Clinic
Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi
Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood
Nashville Launch Pad
Inclusion Tennessee
Tennessee Pride Chamber
ACLU of Tennessee
Tennessee Equality Project
The Music City Sisters
Nashville Pride
The Tennessee Vals
Vanderbilt University Office of LGBTQI Life
The Nashville Gender and Sexuality Alliance
Protect Trans Health TN
instagram.com/protecttranshealthtn
