Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee delivers his State of the State Address in the House Chamber on Feb. 3, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn.Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a novel bill into law Thursday that will criminalize some drag performances.will ban “adult cabaret entertainment” from occurring on public property or in a location where it can be viewed by a minor.
Supporters of the legislation say it is necessary to safeguard children from exposure to inappropriate entertainment. When asked for comment about the bill, Lee’s press secretary, Jade Byers, wrote, in full, “The Governor signed the bill today and appreciates the work of Leader Johnson to protect children.”
LGBTQ advocates also worry that police will enforce the law on transgender people walking around in public, falsely painting them as “male or female impersonators.” “You still have First Amendment protections,” she said. “What that means is how a person dresses or what a person says, that does not change. The government cannot suppress speech, including expressive conduct, just because they find it offensive or they don’t like the content.”“This is more like you’ve got a law looking for a problem instead of a problem looking for a law,” she said.
“What a ridiculous, ridiculous question that is,” Lee responded in an exchange that was recorded and shared on Twitter by The Tennessee Holler, a local news site. “Conflating something like that to sexualized entertainment in front of children, which is a very serious subject.”in Memphis on Tuesday, which led to the detainment of two individuals.
Tennessee has had nearly 1300 gun deaths so far in 2023, ranks 33rd out of 50 states in education, & has a rape rate of 40 per 100K, but this is what he chooses to focus on?
His picture looks like The Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz in drag!
Definitely moving in the right direction!
No, it bans minors ... Report correctly please... Why is so hot for children to go to drag shows? Why are drag performers so hot for kids to come ? How many on your staff take your kids to drag shows ?
Tony Curtis in SOME LIKE IT HOT
This is ridiculous….I love a good drag show!
Awesome! 👏 They should be strictly 18+ entertainment. Same goes for storytime performances! Keep the sexual deviants away from children.
We hate this man, sincerely Tennessee
BOOOOOOO this guy STINKS!
It clearly violates first amendment rights but the adjective you use is... 'novel'?
This obsession with drag has become so ridiculous. We’ve seen movies like Mrs Doubtfire and Tootsie and all laughed and were amused. I don’t think children left those movies thinking they wanted to dress in “drag.”
Are there not bigger problems in Tennessee? Just another political stunt by Republican law makers.
What's the problem? I don't see any female strippers performing in front of the kids? Do you mind to leave kids alone, free of your grooming? Like enjoy their childhood.
Coming to your daughters bathroom and he’s taking pictures of them
If adult females were dressing and acting in the same way, we would call them strippers. Are strip clubs open to all ages?
Wow. If one doesn’t want one’s kis to go to drag shows, one doesn’t have to take them. Simple. Why do we need laws for this?
Priorities. 🙄
Good
If the guilt riddled liberal white women won’t protect their children, somebody else has to. It’s stupid to take your kids to these performances, which are overly sexualized and very confusing to young children. Let your children grow up slowly. Don’t put your own shit on them.
Shameful.
Those who are for drag shows find it acceptable for grown men to dress like women and perform sex acts in front of children.
Fantastic news
Wow... this is what they waste their time and dollars on? Why don't they just ban clowns, those do more psychological damage to children.
no more drag racing
It is sickening to see a state take away jobs from innocent people who did absolutely nothing. If this is such an issue children shouldn’t be allowed into Hooter’s, Tilted Kilt, etc. This is pure hatred and it will come back to hurt them in the long run.
FrankMikeDavis1 Because he has to pander to his bigoted base. And we have all seen the photo of Bill Lee in drag by now. Also, what about this?
Good 👍
Fantastic news. This should be a model for every other state until a constitutionally sound bill banning all aspects of the ideology can be drafted.
FrankMikeDavis1 🤬
FrankMikeDavis1 Well.. gotta say… everyone in TN should feel safer now!! More guns, hangin’ folks in trees, and those horrid drag queens vanquished. Whew.. safe indeed!!
Bill Lee
Good now do the other states 🇺🇸🇺🇸
Let's count ,how many pedophile criminals are in here ,they need to be arrested. We must protect kids from this evil people.
The fact that 'in front of children' has to even be discussed is completely crazy... Drag shows for adults at night, just like strip clubs... is fine... bc that is what they are doing infront of kids... Exotic dancing and stripping... People have gone insane
It's astonishing Republicans are able to push this bs, acting like drag shows are the danger. Republicans are the ones forcing pregnancy on little girls and advocating for child marriage. They're persecuting a small group of innocent people. Drag shows are not the problem.
Tennessee enacts first law protecting children from being sexually exploited by men masquerading as women.
Excellent! Heterosexuals can’t do this. Why allow drags. SAVETheChidren
Good.
Interesting to see if if passes a 1st Amendment challenge.
Good law.
Yes, guys never dressed up like women before (Laurel and Hardy circa 1937; Flip Wilson as 'Geraldine' circa 1970.)
Kids do not need to see this stuff. I don’t want to see it either. My choice. Kids with parents don’t have that choice unless old enough to say so. They’re trapped by the parents. It’s up the parents to decide, but most parents in the last 2 decades have no morals so…….
As expected the Libs are not happy that grown men do not get to twerk in front of children. Pathetic sick trash.
Avoid confusion among young minds ! Kudos 👍
wow somebody actually having a backbone and keeping the perverts at bay from the kids, Bravo
Because that’s the biggest issue facing the people of Tennessee 🤦🏻♀️
God forbid children watch a drag performance on the street. Watching their teachers and classmates being gunned down by a mass shooter though is ok I guess.
Whatever next ? Not being able to do a catholic mass in front of children? Oh hang on….🤔
Tennesseean’s GovBillLee is a more polite version of Ron DeSantis. He practically has the same political playbook. He just trying to enact it a little more quietly. He’s going to destroy public education, won’t expand Medicaid. Legislature is his rubber stamp.
But it’s OK that hooters and twin peaks have a children’s menu ?
The Tennessee GOP is the party of hate,bigotry and discrimination.
Question: What's the difference between a drag show and a Christian evangelical church? One is a setting where kids are exposed to demented perverts, twisted ideas and imagery that leaves them brainwashed and scarred for life The other is a drag show
That guy does drag tho.
This is the party of 'free speech' ya right.
Good
Anybody whose mad at this watch your kids around them
Why would parents let men in women clothes dance in front of their children
Where do Tennessee residents send their now illegal copies of Mrs. Doubtfire?!? Breaking the law is serious 🤣
The party of baby killers dont agree, hmm
Yes! Attacking the big issues per usual. 🤣
Good, since y'all won't protect children someone had to
GOP continue their Cancel Culture
Tennessee: We miss lynching and fuck our cousins, but drag shows are our real problem.
Thank God. Maybe ill move to Tennessee.. i want my kids to develop normally, without those shocking traumatic images for an infant to watch.
How many children died in drag shows, guys ? But you’ll do nothing about guns ?
Good for Tennessee, these groomers need to be stopped.
About time.
Not very conservative to impose big government on personal lives.
But exposing your children to MAGA Nazism, racism, domestic terrorism, guns, and pedophilia is totally ok.
So much for the party of limited government
Good and more states need to follow its sick disgusting behavior little kids don't need to see
👍🏼👏🏻
Some great legislation there Tenn. Ever consider enacting some actual laws that benefit the people of Tenn? Not made up nonsense to appease the low info voters?
Where are the feminists?
I’m disgusted with our country. We have real problems and can make real progress and this hate filled agenda is what we are doing
This is right, because transgender performances can bring down children's outlook
Calling all LGBT and allies to show up for TN Pride this year. It’s gonna be wild!
Wokane Bear is Woke
Thought Republicans were all about parents’ rights. Why can’t I take my kids to a drag show if I want? They won’t bleed out. They won’t catch airborne ‘drag’. I will be there to see what they are learning. It’s the Moms for Liberty dream.
Good!!!!
So, having sex with your cousin is legal as long as you don’t dress as a woman while doing it?
Unconstitutional- Rednecks
love to see how they’re going to enforce that.
Southern ppl are backwards old fashioned full of narcssstic hateful fear ..they are So un-American..
Freedom from jail and hell
A major step up the evolution ladder.
Didn't this guy dress in Drag?
But what about the Leftwingers children? Denying them might trigger a mental health crisis.
afrdiasporanews kengandanation DrMumbiSeraki
Did they just ban Dolly Parton from Nashville?
Go realDailyWire go! Well done 👍🏼
THIS SHOULD HAPPEN IN ALL STATES !!
Excellent.
Republicans hate free speech. It should be overturned by the courts.
Why?
There goes my plans to visit TN ❌
Dot they have better things to do. A bunch of old fat angry white men against something they know nothing about.
Silly
This shouldn't even be a topic of discussion. Drag queens have no place with children.
Good. Don’t be weird with kids
So they are banning Bugs Bunny cartoons?
Democrats are fighting for this? Disgusting 🤨
Did Tennessee ever fix that child rape law they passed under trump Tennessee let an admitted child molester vote so he can marry a child as young as 11 yrs old
Ooooh c’mon
Bronze Age relics have a problem with drag shows — but are okay teaching their children from an ancient book that repeatedly commands mass genocide & denigrates & subjugates women numerous times. What fools and hypocrites, as Jesus would call them.
💫
Woo! Small government! These are the issues that really matter! Tennessee is no. 40 in health care in the US, has the fourth highest crime rate in the country, but let’s focus on this.
About time.
This thread is full of perverts.
So it’s now illegal to let kids watch Mrs. Doubtfire, Tootsie, Hairspray and Victor/Victoria? Old shows with Milton Berle, Bob Hope, Jack Benny and others? The classic Monty Python lumberjack song?
👏👏👏
Republican Gov Bill Lee in drag
The lie is in your headline. It’s the word “or”. 🤦♂️
“Small government”
Republicans and some Christians are afraid someone still might recognize them.
Sad that we have to make this a law, should be common sense not to take kids to strip clubs
Ok TN I sure hope there are mass public drag shows thus weekend.
ChristianM_28 Kudos to him. Discussion of sexuality does not belong in kids school. It need to be rated R and only conscious decision making adult should access have to.
Lots of people are pissed off at this bill. Lots of gr00mers in this thread.
This never happened at a drag show.
Will he sign the bill dressed in his drag costume ?
Yyyyyyaaaassssssss Qqqqwuuuueeeeeeennnnnnnn
It's not enforceable and they don't care. It's meant to intimidate and scare people with threats.
It will never hold up in court. First amendment. Slippery slope. Fascism
Noone is affraid of drag. Its not for fucking kids. Stop sexualizing kids. Let them be kids. No drag for kids. Period..
Hell yes
The “freedom” party ONLY means “free” to be ruled by Christofascism. The GOP claim children will be forever damaged if they see a man dressed as a woman, but gunned down in school? Go hungry because they can’t afford to buy a school lunch? THAT they’re cool with.
Imagine a world where conservatives treated the 1st amendment with the same reverence they do the 2nd.
Reparations will solve all of America's problems.
Bigots need to be confronted with protests
i wonder if a slipknot concert could be deemed drag. music & makeup
This is an excellent law. Kudos TN.
Tennessee --- your anti-drag law is futile. There are a plethora of places for drag artist to perform other than in state buildings. Minors can view drag shows on their cellphones, including pornographic drag performances. This law is nothing but hate given statutory expression.
but have done zero on mass shootings in the state...
Basically people putting on crazy clothes and make up, are clowns next?
How about no loaded guns in the presence of children
They're all pitiful. After seeing the conditions those poor dogs lived in and the fact they had an on-site slaughter house, I have no sympathy for any of these savages. Hoping the dogs have a better life now.
Unlike drag queen story hour, the evidence of child sexual assault happening within churches is overwhelming , so it's best we ban that first.
So pathetic...
Ban people’s rights to be who they are but you can not ban weapons of war killing our children in schools. Republicans put lobbyists money over the lives of people & our children. Vote them out!💙
Children are being slaughtered in schools and this is what Republicans spend their time on. Media: Both sides
notcapnamerica What happens if they see it on tv or social media ? This is silly a f I can’t wait till Karen Energy goes out of style
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Really important issue 🙄. GOP is a waste of time
So embarrassing. You can't watch RuPaul's Drag Race? Or any movie with drag? Huge government overreach.
Don't know why anyone would take a child to a drag show. Would you take a child to a strip club? How does this help families put food on the table and a roof over their heads. How does this make our lives better?
First amendment violation USConst_Amend_I
Kabuki is performed only by men. If a visiting group wanted to perform, they'd all be charged with felonies?
Good
A lot of singers have drag dancers. Will Tennessee arrest them at concerts? This is taking it too far. If a woman wears a pantsuit then is she dressing in drag and will she be arrested?
Put a stop to that bullshit.
We all know the Republicans like to keep the drag queens to themselves...
🍾 🥂 🎉
This ridiculous law is violating their constitutional right to twerk on little kids
And so it starts. Boo USA!
Whole bunch a people in this thread that want dudes showing skin for kids.... gimmi a G, Gimmi an R, gimmi an O....
Boycott Tennessee lawmakers
But in Canada you can be arrested if you object. Canada seems to be circling the drain. Such a shame.
Now the rest of the states need to follow.
no more watching M.A.S.H with the family
notcapnamerica Focused on the wrong things. Poverty rate skyrocketing, failing school systems, poor broadband, etc but they worried about drag queens. GTFOH.
Nice. Impressionable minds. We must do our best to properly culturize our kids and young people.
notcapnamerica Can’t wait til the courts rip this abomination apart
NBC,when are yall going to report on something we want to read.
About time they protect children from groomers
Bunch of cowards.
A waste of time
Unconstitutional. It will get struck down, even by the right wing SCOTUS.
Very clearly violates 1A, this is religious fundamentalist garbage
Men are taking over women’s rights. Why is trans community taking over the celebration of Women Month.
Bigoted and no doubt, will be considered unconstitutional in time. Always amazing how wasting taxpayer money fighting a made up culture war on behalf of the more extreme jerks doesn't get the same outrage as social programs.
Blatantly unconstitutional, but we can’t rely on this activist SCOTUS to say so.
Violates 1A, will be overturned.
Republicans are really solving the world's problems.
Goodbye, Shakespeare. Or Hairspray. No Peter Pan with girls in the title role. Utter bullshit, TN
Republicans are evil
Has anyone ever seen children at a drag performance?
The fact we even need to pass a law like this just further illustrates how messed up things are in this country right now. How perverted.
The party of freedom and small government, folks.
Poor democrats. They can't sexualize children in Tennessee.
Lol!!! We had Dee Snider, Alice Cooper, Motley Crue etc. you get the point. And I turned out just fine. 😀
EXCELLENT! KEEP THESE SICK, PERVERTED DEMOCRAPS AWAY FROM OUR KIDS!!!
BillLeeIsAHypocrite
I’m not sure why they are so afraid?
Boycott Tennessee