Thread by @JeffRoushPoetry

In Tennessee @GovBillLee is joining many other state governors and legislators in posing as leaders while blindly following right-wing screamers into discriminatory culture wars. (Thread)
#ResistanceUnited
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reuters.com/world/us/tenne…

There is an irony to Lee complaining that questions about his youthful appearance in a cheerleader skirt are “conflating” his boys-will-be-boys fun with “sexualized entertainment in front of children.” So let’s talk conflation.

First, not all drag queens are either gay or trans. Some are one or both, but Tennessee and other states are just lumping them all together into their own imagined den of iniquity.

Second, gender and biological sex are not the same thing. Gender is an identification with and adherence to a set of societal norms. These change over time, and are not necessarily connected to one’s genetalia at all.

Third, not all drag shows are sexualized. Some are entirely child-friendly, and not nearly as sexual in nature as, say, some cheerleading routines. Children are present at football games, at Hooters restaurants, and other venues with sexuality front and center.

Under this legislation, a man or a trans woman in a dress giving a public reading of literature is deemed inappropriate. That so many in the GOP assume men in dresses and makeup are being sexual says more about them than drag participants.

Once again, under the guise of “protecting the children,” Republican-led states are seeking to limit First Amendment-protected activities by particular groups, skipping right past an actual assessment of value or appropriateness. This isn’t leadership; it’s retaliation from fear.