Tennessee governor appears to have dressed in drag, an art form he wants to restrict

[f8ta1ity54]

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/tennessee-governor-appears-dressed-drag-art-form-wants-restrict-rcna72569

 

By the time Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee confirmed Monday that he would sign a recently passed bill criminalizing drag performances in public and in front of children, a photo that appears to show him dressed in drag as a high school student had already started to circulate on Reddit and Twitter.

Just before midnight Saturday, a Reddit user shared an image that appears to show Lee as a high school student wearing a short-skirted cheerleader’s uniform, a pearl necklace and a wig, posing on a school sports field next to two girls in men’s suits. The caption says, “Governor Bill Lee in drag (1977 high school yearbook).”

 

Gov. Bill Lee is believed to be the person standing in the middle, 2nd-left, in this 1977 yearbook image.Franklin High School via Ancestry.com

In a subsequent post, the Reddit user, who did not respond to a request for comment, referred to the drag bill on the governor’s desk, saying, “I’m sure it will be signed but, the hypocrisy needs to be poked at before they come after Play in Nashville or even Rocky Horror at Belcourt twice a year,” references to a popular Nashville dance club and the gender-bending musical “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”  

 

Answering reporters’ questions Monday, Lee, a Republican, said he would sign the drag bill in addition to a separate piece of legislation that would prohibit gender-affirming care for the state’s minors. He was then asked whether he remembers “dressing in drag in 1977” and appeared to have been shown a copy of the image. He neither confirmed nor denied whether it was him in the image.

“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.”

Lee’s press secretary, Jade Cooper Byers, did not confirm whether it is Lee in the yearbook photo. Byers said in an email that “any attempt to conflate this serious issue with lighthearted school traditions is dishonest and disrespectful to Tennessee families.” 

The school tradition Byers referred to is most likely a powderpuff football game, in which boys dress as girls and vice versa during homecoming week. Byers did not respond to a follow-up question asking for clarification. 

While the event photographed in the yearbook would meet most definitions of “drag,” it would not necessarily be illegal under Tennessee’s newly passed drag bill, which specifically bans “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest” from performing in public or in front of children. 

A spokesperson for Lee’s former high school, Franklin High School in Franklin, confirmed in an email that the image is from the school’s 1977 yearbook and “appears to be Bill Lee.” However, the spokesperson, Cory Mason, cautioned that there is no caption to accompany the photograph “or any other form of identification.”

Much of the school’s 1977 yearbook, including the image that appears to show Lee in drag, can also be found in a U.S. high school yearbook database on Ancestry.com.

 

The image emerged less than a week after Tennessee legislators passed a bill to restrict “adult cabaret performances” in public or in front of children. It defines “adult cabaret” performers as “topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers, regardless of whether or not performed for consideration.”

Supporters of the adult cabaret bill, including Lee, say legislation is needed to protect children from exposure to inappropriate entertainment. Critics say it unfairly targets an art form long associated with LGBTQ people and culture and broadly paints all drag as obscene and sexualized.

After Lee’s remarks Monday, some drag performers criticized his aversion to comparing the yearbook image to a drag performance, calling his response “hypocritical.” 

“He’s saying: ‘It’s OK for straight people to do it, but not the gay community,’” said Denise Sadler, 38, who has been performing drag in Nashville for more than two decades. “That’s the message he’s delivering to the people.”

While Tennessee is expected to become the first state to pass such a restriction on drag performances, it may soon have company. Republican legislators in at least a dozen other states have introduced similar measures this year, according to an NBC News analysis.

The image appearing to show Lee in drag is not the first of his yearbook photos to have made national news. In 2019, he apologized after an image of him dressed in a Confederate uniform in the 1980 Auburn University yearbook emerged.

 

 

 

 

[f8ta1ity54]

[ICRockets2]

4 minutes ago, f8ta1ity54 said:

 

“He’s saying: ‘It’s OK for straight people to do it, but not the gay community,’”

 

 

 

 

Hip made this exact argument about cosmetic surgery a couple months ago re: trans and cis people

[SackMan518]

Dumb post, there's a big difference between dressing up as a woman for a gag and being serious about it. Pretty weak twist. Of course by their logic Robin Williams is also a transsexual.

 

[ICRockets2]

5 minutes ago, SackMan518 said:

Dumb post, there's a big difference between dressing up as a woman for a gag and being serious about it. Pretty weak twist. Of course by their logic Robin Williams is also a transsexual.

 

No, by our logic there just isn't anything wrong with crossdressing in front of kids.

[SackMan518]

2 minutes ago, ICRockets2 said:

No, by our logic there just isn't anything wrong with crossdressing in front of kids.

Normal people call that twisted logic.

[f8ta1ity54]

1 minute ago, SackMan518 said:

Normal people call that twisted logic.

Why is it okay for cis people to dress up in drag in front of children, but not okay for LGBTQ people to do the same?

[SackMan518]

2 minutes ago, f8ta1ity54 said:

Why is it okay for cis people to dress up in drag in front of children, but not okay for LGBTQ people to do the same?

Because the latter are serious about it and expect you to believe that they're actually a woman under those clothes. If you don't acknowledge such you will be accused of hate speech and being "transphobic."

[ICRockets2]

2 minutes ago, SackMan518 said:

Because the latter are serious about it and expect you to believe that they're actually a woman under those clothes. If you don't acknowledge such you will be accused of hate speech and being "transphobic."

That's not crossdressing.  If you're a woman wearing women's clothing, that's just dressing.

We're talking about MEN wearing women's clothing.  Why is it okay if they're straight but bad if they're gay?

[ICRockets2]

9 minutes ago, SackMan518 said:

Normal people call that twisted logic.

No we don't.

[SackMan518]

2 minutes ago, ICRockets2 said:

That's not crossdressing.  If you're a woman wearing women's clothing, that's just dressing.

We're talking about MEN wearing women's clothing.  Why is it okay if they're straight but bad if they're gay?

Do you have a reading comprehension problem?

[ICRockets2]

1 minute ago, SackMan518 said:

Do you have a reading comprehension problem?

No.  Do you?

[f8ta1ity54]

10 minutes ago, SackMan518 said:

Because the latter are serious about it and expect you to believe that they're actually a woman under those clothes. If you don't acknowledge such you will be accused of hate speech and being "transphobic."

serious about what?

[SackMan518]

2 minutes ago, ICRockets2 said:

No.  Do you?

I think you do because you clearly didn't understand my explanation from a couple replies back and you seem to concoct the most infantile arguments I've seen since "I'm rubber and you're glue." You're a colossal waste of time and not the great debater that you imagine you are.

[ICRockets2]

6 minutes ago, SackMan518 said:

I think you do because you clearly didn't understand my explanation from a couple replies back and you seem to concoct the most infantile arguments I've seen since "I'm rubber and you're glue." You're a colossal waste of time and not the great debater that you imagine you are.

Your explanation is retarded because the conversation is about drag, not trans people.

Drag queens are not "serious about it".

[HipKat]

4 hours ago, f8ta1ity54 said:

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/tennessee-governor-appears-dressed-drag-art-form-wants-restrict-rcna72569

 

By the time Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee confirmed Monday that he would sign a recently passed bill criminalizing drag performances in public and in front of children, a photo that appears to show him dressed in drag as a high school student had already started to circulate on Reddit and Twitter.

Just before midnight Saturday, a Reddit user shared an image that appears to show Lee as a high school student wearing a short-skirted cheerleader’s uniform, a pearl necklace and a wig, posing on a school sports field next to two girls in men’s suits. The caption says, “Governor Bill Lee in drag (1977 high school yearbook).”

 

Gov. Bill Lee is believed to be the person standing in the middle, 2nd-left, in this 1977 yearbook image.Franklin High School via Ancestry.com

In a subsequent post, the Reddit user, who did not respond to a request for comment, referred to the drag bill on the governor’s desk, saying, “I’m sure it will be signed but, the hypocrisy needs to be poked at before they come after Play in Nashville or even Rocky Horror at Belcourt twice a year,” references to a popular Nashville dance club and the gender-bending musical “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”  

 

Answering reporters’ questions Monday, Lee, a Republican, said he would sign the drag bill in addition to a separate piece of legislation that would prohibit gender-affirming care for the state’s minors. He was then asked whether he remembers “dressing in drag in 1977” and appeared to have been shown a copy of the image. He neither confirmed nor denied whether it was him in the image.

“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.”

Lee’s press secretary, Jade Cooper Byers, did not confirm whether it is Lee in the yearbook photo. Byers said in an email that “any attempt to conflate this serious issue with lighthearted school traditions is dishonest and disrespectful to Tennessee families.” 

The school tradition Byers referred to is most likely a powderpuff football game, in which boys dress as girls and vice versa during homecoming week. Byers did not respond to a follow-up question asking for clarification. 

While the event photographed in the yearbook would meet most definitions of “drag,” it would not necessarily be illegal under Tennessee’s newly passed drag bill, which specifically bans “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest” from performing in public or in front of children. 

A spokesperson for Lee’s former high school, Franklin High School in Franklin, confirmed in an email that the image is from the school’s 1977 yearbook and “appears to be Bill Lee.” However, the spokesperson, Cory Mason, cautioned that there is no caption to accompany the photograph “or any other form of identification.”

Much of the school’s 1977 yearbook, including the image that appears to show Lee in drag, can also be found in a U.S. high school yearbook database on Ancestry.com.

 

The image emerged less than a week after Tennessee legislators passed a bill to restrict “adult cabaret performances” in public or in front of children. It defines “adult cabaret” performers as “topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers, regardless of whether or not performed for consideration.”

Supporters of the adult cabaret bill, including Lee, say legislation is needed to protect children from exposure to inappropriate entertainment. Critics say it unfairly targets an art form long associated with LGBTQ people and culture and broadly paints all drag as obscene and sexualized.

After Lee’s remarks Monday, some drag performers criticized his aversion to comparing the yearbook image to a drag performance, calling his response “hypocritical.” 

“He’s saying: ‘It’s OK for straight people to do it, but not the gay community,’” said Denise Sadler, 38, who has been performing drag in Nashville for more than two decades. “That’s the message he’s delivering to the people.”

While Tennessee is expected to become the first state to pass such a restriction on drag performances, it may soon have company. Republican legislators in at least a dozen other states have introduced similar measures this year, according to an NBC News analysis.

The image appearing to show Lee in drag is not the first of his yearbook photos to have made national news. In 2019, he apologized after an image of him dressed in a Confederate uniform in the 1980 Auburn University yearbook emerged.

 

 

 

 

Wait, he did this in High School???

LMOA.... you fucking people

[HipKat]

3 hours ago, f8ta1ity54 said:

Why is it okay for cis people to dress up in drag in front of children, but not okay for LGBTQ people to do the same?

Doing it as a joke and doing it as a lifestyle brought on by SEXUAL urges.

They're not the same

[HipKat]

3 hours ago, ICRockets2 said:

That's not crossdressing.  If you're a woman wearing women's clothing, that's just dressing.

We're talking about MEN wearing women's clothing.  Why is it okay if they're straight but bad if they're gay?

The dude with a dick/male genetics is NOT a woman. Get it straight

[ICRockets2]

9 minutes ago, HipKat said:

Doing it as a joke and doing it as a lifestyle brought on by SEXUAL urges.

They're not the same

That isn't why gay men do drag.

[ICRockets2]

9 minutes ago, HipKat said:

The dude with a dick/male genetics is NOT a woman. Get it straight

If they identify as a woman, yes.  They are a woman.  

I don't know what's so difficult to grasp about the fact that sex and gender are different.  

[f8ta1ity54]

11 minutes ago, HipKat said:

Doing it as a joke and doing it as a lifestyle brought on by SEXUAL urges.

They're not the same

If they are BOTH CONFUSING to children why is it okay? How do you know he didnt have any SEXUAL urges?

 

[ICRockets2]

19 minutes ago, f8ta1ity54 said:

If they are BOTH CONFUSING to children why is it okay? How do you know he didnt have any SEXUAL urges?

 

You don't get it, straight men don't think there's anything sexy about women.  

Wait...

[f8ta1ity54]

1 minute ago, ICRockets2 said:

You don't get it, straight men don't think there's anything sexy about women.  

Wait...

Well, I have heard Nick Fuentes argue it is gay for men to have sex with women. So that makes sense. 

[ICRockets2]

Just now, f8ta1ity54 said:

Well, I have heard Nick Fuentes argue it is gay for men to have sex with women. So that makes sense. 

If anyone would know what's gay, it's Catboy Nick

[f8ta1ity54]

Just now, ICRockets2 said:

If anyone would know what's gay, it's Catboy Nick

I thought he was into FemBoys. I can't keep up!