Tennessee Becomes the First State to Pass a Ban on Drag Shows

[TheShader]

Tennessee Becomes the First State to Pass a Ban on Drag Shows

NEWREPUBLIC.COM

---

The bill is so vaguely worded it could also target trans people and Pride celebrations generally.

 

Quote

The bill bans “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to prurient interest,” meaning of a sexual nature, either in public or if there is a minor present. The language is vague and makes no distinction between drag performers and transgender people.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Unfortunately, it won't be the last either.

 

The ludicrous thing about this bill is that TN's pre-existing obscenity laws already carry these restrictions.

[Greatoneshere]

So Tennessee just became less fun.

[Uaarkson]

Free country amirite 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

republicans want everyone to be as miserable as they are

[CayceG]

Aside from the obvious negative impacts, this will be pretty interesting to see get implemented. 

 

Nashville's gay district and the home of a multitude of drag brunch bars is only a few blocks from the State Capitol. 

[Greatoneshere]

1 minute ago, CayceG said:

Aside from the obvious negative impacts, this will be pretty interesting to see get implemented. 

 

Nashville's gay district and the home of a multitude of drag brunch bars is only a few blocks from the State Capitol. 

 

When reading the article my first question was also how implementation will work. Just passing the bill sends a message, however. And I think we all know what that message is.

[silentbob]

So another Supreme Court case incoming. This seems like it goes against the constitution for freely protesting in organized groups in a precession down city streets. That’s all the parade is, a right to protest against these religious assholes. As for when they do these sexual drag shows. . . there are ways around it.

 

 

[stepee]

INSANE

[osxmatt]

It's amazing how obsessed Republicans are with sexualizing trans people.

[CitizenVectron]

4 minutes ago, osxmatt said:

It's amazing how obsessed Republicans are with sexualizing trans people.

 

And yet, curiously, they won't ban child beauty pagents.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

6 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

And yet, curiously, they won't ban child beauty pagents.

where else would they find their future wives

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

aside from church that is

[TheShader]

16 minutes ago, CayceG said:

Aside from the obvious negative impacts, this will be pretty interesting to see get implemented. 

 

Nashville's gay district and the home of a multitude of drag brunch bars is only a few blocks from the State Capitol. 

My guess is 'implementation' isn't a concern. It's a desire to return to the days in which a squad of law enforcement officers could break into a club at their discretion to 'break up up the queers' and arrest whomever they want. To the days of the harassment and arrests involved in both the Cooper Do-Nuts events as well as Stonewall.

 

Also like many vague bills like it that have come before, it's an excuse to grab trans people walking to work in front of an elementary school and have them arrested for 'Performing lewd acts in front of an elementary school' even though all they did was walk from place A to place B. These are known as 'Walking while trans' laws. They're laws that are intended to be vague in description while labeling trans individuals as sexual perverts since no one wants to defend someone labeled as a sexual predator by the law, even though the arrest had nothing to do with sexual or lewd acts.

[thewhyteboar]

If you actually wanted to stop grooming, you’d lock up all youth pastors. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

16 minutes ago, thewhyteboar said:

If you actually wanted to stop grooming, you’d lock up all youth pastors. 

The church my super fundamentalist aunt attends had their  youth pastor raping a couple young girls about a decade ago. I think they were 10 and 12 at the time. He even did it in the church if I recall. His wife turned him in when she found a bunch of child porn on his computer. She doesn't like for me to bring up that "incident." Church changed its name not long after.

 

edit: it hasn’t even been a decade. 

Tony Waller gets life in prison for rape

WWW.KAIT8.COM

---

Anthony "Tony" Waller will spend life in prison for two counts of rape.

 

[stepee]

What would be a good organization to donate to that would specifically help people in Tennessee fight back against a state government that passes laws that are hate crimes in of themselves? 

[TheShader]

1 minute ago, stepee said:

What would be a good organization to donate to that would specifically help people in Tennessee fight back against a state government that passes laws that are hate crimes in of themselves? 

I will look into this and see if there is a best option for this. If the ACLU takes this on(Not sure if they've made a statement or not yet)I would recommend donating specifically to the Tennessee ACLU to make sure that money is directly impacting their fight. As great as the ACLU is, though, I always like to recommend activists more on the ground level. ACLU has a lot metric fuckton of money and lawyers, and it's people on the ground fighting in the streets that need money.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Just now, TheShader said:

I will look into this and see if there is a best option for this. If the ACLU takes this on(Not sure if they've made a statement or not yet)I would recommend donating specifically to the Tennessee ACLU to make sure that money is directly impacting their fight. As great as the ACLU is, though, I always like to recommend activists more on the ground level. ACLU has a lot metric fuckton of money and lawyers, and it's people on the ground fighting in the streets that need money.

 

The ACLU has said that they will legally challenge once it's signed into law.

[TheShader]

Just now, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

The ACLU has said that they will legally challenge once it's signed into law.

Good to hear! I had no doubt they would, so I didn't keep up with it. They're picky about the fights they pick unless it comes to national news stuff like this. Then they tend to trip over themselves to get involved.

 

I've worked with the ACLU, you get used to the organization's groupthink process after awhile.

[stepee]

9 minutes ago, TheShader said:

I will look into this and see if there is a best option for this. If the ACLU takes this on(Not sure if they've made a statement or not yet)I would recommend donating specifically to the Tennessee ACLU to make sure that money is directly impacting their fight. As great as the ACLU is, though, I always like to recommend activists more on the ground level. ACLU has a lot metric fuckton of money and lawyers, and it's people on the ground fighting in the streets that need money.

 

Appreciate it! Just made my donation to ACLU Tennessee. I just feel sickened by this.

[TUFKAK]

Seriously, fuck these assholes.

[TUFKAK]

15 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

Appreciate it! Just made my donation to ACLU Tennessee. I just feel sickened by this.

1k just went to the aclu from me as well.

[TheShader]

I've begun reaching out to local organizations in Tennessee to get a better handle on the local needs and fights of the LGBTQ communities across the state. I'll update here as I start hearing back and start getting a grasp on the ground level needs.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

The Trevor Project is also a worthy organization.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

2 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

The Trevor Project is also a worthy organization.

I have a friend who lost his trans son to suicide and this is his organization of choice for donations.

[TheShader]

6 minutes ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

I have a friend who lost his trans son to suicide and this is his organization of choice for donations.

I'm sorry for the loss. It never gets easier, especially when it comes to trans people where it is oftentimes so preventable. A world that constantly debates your existence on a good day, and tries to legislate you out of existence on a bad day is a tough one to live in. It's something no one should be going through, and yet we lose countless sons, daughters, and children to suicide like this.

 

I can't imagine what it's like to lose a child, but I imagine it stays with you forever. I hope your friend well in their healing.

[Mr.Vic20]

Terrible people make terrible laws. See the 12th century for details! 

[Demut]

So this is the actual text of the bill, right?

Quote

( ) "Adult cabaret entertainment":
     (A) Means adult-oriented performances that are harmful to minors, as that term is defined in § 39-17-901, and that feature topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators, or similar entertainers; and

     (B) Includes a single performance or multiple performances by an entertainer;

( ) "Entertainer" means a person who provides:
     (A) Entertainment within an adult-oriented establishment, regardless of whether a fee is charged or accepted for entertainment and regardless of whether entertainment is provided as an employee, escort as defined in § 7-51-1102, or an independent contractor; or

     (B) A performance of actual or simulated specified sexual activities, including removal of articles of clothing or appearing unclothed, regardless of whether a fee is charged or accepted for the performance and regardless of whether the performance is provided as an employee or an independent contractor;

[...]
(c)
(1) It is an offense for a person to perform adult cabaret entertainment:
     (A) On public property; or
     (B) In a location where the adult cabaret entertainment could be viewed by a person who is not an adult.

(2) Notwithstanding § 7-51-1406, this subsection (c) expressly:
     (A) Preempts an ordinance, regulation, restriction, or license that was lawfully adopted or issued by a political subdivision prior to the effective date of this act that is in conflict with this subsection (c); and
     (B) Prevents or preempts a political subdivision from enacting and enforcing in the future other ordinances, regulations, restrictions, or licenses that are in conflict with this subsection (c).

(3) A first offense for a violation of subdivision (c)(1) is a Class A misdemeanor, and a second or subsequent such offense is a Class E felony.

Maybe I'm missing something but how does that ban drag shows let alone constitute "a malicious attempt to remove LGBTQ people from public life" (as the quoted group in the article claims)? Now I'm no lawyer but I fail to understand the author's reasoning in the article concerning how this would criminalize gay parades for example, especially when you look up the crucial paragraph referenced in the very beginning. It's not just any and all "male or female impersonators" out and about in public that would violate this law from what I'm reading there. I also don't understand what's vague about it in context (i.e. within the rest of the law that this bill amends).

 

On a side note, why is seemingly every other thing a felony in the U.S. (low level or not)?

 

6 hours ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

She doesn't like for me to bring up that "incident."

Huh, so a woman who found out that her husband is a pedophile and child rapist and subsequently reported him to the police doesn't like you bringing that up with her? How unusual. You'd think she'd enjoy talking about that fond memory of this lovely human all day long.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

1 minute ago, Demut said:

 

Huh, so a woman who found out that her husband is a pedophile and child rapist and had to report him to the police doesn't like you bringing that up with her? How unusual. You'd think she'd love to talk about it all day long.

I'm talking about my aunt, you dingus.  JFC.

[Demut]

Ah, that makes so much more sense. My bad. Still, same question: Why would your aunt want you to talk about her former pedophile child rapist pastor? Is that kind of topic something you think people enjoy discussing? Seems perfectly natural to me that she dislikes you bringing it up.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

4 hours ago, TheShader said:

I'm sorry for the loss. It never gets easier, especially when it comes to trans people where it is oftentimes so preventable. A world that constantly debates your existence on a good day, and tries to legislate you out of existence on a bad day is a tough one to live in. It's something no one should be going through, and yet we lose countless sons, daughters, and children to suicide like this.

 

I can't imagine what it's like to lose a child, but I imagine it stays with you forever. I hope your friend well in their healing.

He talks about it a lot, usually in posts where he's advocating for trans rights and such. It's been a good therapy for him to throw himself into activism. He even acknowledges that years before, though he backed gay rights, he thought the concept of transgender was bullshit. It changed before his son came out and he was a super supportive dad from that point forward. His ex-wife...not so much.

 

It'll be a lifelong pain for him, but I'm glad he's become so involved with the community.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

1 minute ago, Demut said:

Ah, that makes so much more sense. My bad. Still, same question: Why would your aunt want you to talk about her former pedophile child rapist pastor? Is that kind of topic something you think people enjoy discussing? Seems perfectly natural to me that she dislikes you bringing it up.

Yes, I make it a topic of conversation on the regular.

 

Let me break it down for you. My aunt is a loud and proud fundamentalist. She really really doesn't like LGBTQ people. She buys into the notion that they're abominations and predators. She doesn't like it when you point out that the youth pastor at her church is now serving life without parole for child rape when she's talking about the evils of the gays.

[stepee]

Fucking hell whoever originally said that there were no stupid questions needs to answer for this shit. Could you please answers these 50 fucking questions? Jesus christ seriously it’s so transparent and lame.

[Demut]

3 minutes ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Yes, I make it a topic of conversation on the regular.

I mean maybe that's just me being ESL but your original sentence sounded to me like you did so on more than one occasion. Is that false? Anyway, that added context you just provided would've clarified all that.