Progressives call on Pentagon to rethink ban on drag shows

Progressives are upset about the Pentagon’s newly enforced ban on drag shows on military bases, as LGBTQ groups accuse military leaders of folding to Republican pressure.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stepped in personally to cancel a drag show at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada scheduled for last Thursday, leading to a clamor of Republican approval.

Though the issue has not garnered loud dissent on Capitol Hill, some Democrats this week knocked the decision in interviews with The Hill.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the first openly gay immigrant in Congress, said canceling the drag show was a “mistake” that caters to what he called a broader “attack” on LGBTQ rights from conservative lawmakers.

“The [Department of Defense] shouldn’t have bought into that,” he said.

Garcia argued the Nellis Air Force show was a private event that was not using federal funds and stressed it was important the Pentagon support all forms of art equally.

“There’s a history of the Pentagon hosting all types of comedic events, concerts, all different types of celebrations,” Garcia said. “Drag shows are art and they should be allowed like any other type of art form is allowed.”

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), the chairman of the Congressional Equality Caucus, said the decision “sends the wrong message to LGBTQ+ service members,” noting the Defense Department has a “long history” of promoting such events.

“The current efforts to restrict drag are part of a larger movement to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ people, and the Pentagon should not yield to extremist pressure to minimize the diversity of our military ranks,” Pocan said in a statement.

“LGBTQ+ service members and their culture should be seen, valued, and celebrated. I urge the Department of Defense to reconsider this decision.”

The Nellis Air Force show was canceled after months of intense GOP criticism, including during a March congressional hearing in which both Milley and Austin expressed disapproval of federal funding for drag show events on military bases.

The Defense Department is now citing a decades-old policy on standards of conduct and ethics regulation to enforce what appears to be a wider ban on drag events. An Air Force official confirmed to The Hill that drag shows will no longer take place on the military branch’s sites.

In a CNN interview this week, Milley said drag shows were “never part of DOD policy” and canceling the Nellis Air Force event was “the absolute right thing to do.”

Drag shows on U.S. bases stretch back to at least World War I, long holding significance in American military culture without attracting public controversy.

Both former Republican President Reagan and former GOP Sen. George Murphy acted in “This is the Army,” a musical propaganda film about a wounded soldier who produces shows for the armed forces, including drag.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, spoke out against the Pentagon ban, saying drag shows are historically “important protected activities.”

“I hate to see the Republican agenda coming in to prevent people from doing things,” she told The Hill.

Many LGBTQ rights activists say the decision stands in stark contrast to the Biden administration’s policies, which has generally been open to LGBTQ communities.

In his first week of office, President Biden repealed a restrictive policy from the Trump administration largely barring transgender individuals from serving. Biden also for the first time allowed transgender service members to serve openly.

Yet the relentless GOP pushback on drag shows, part of the broader culture wars focused on trans people across America, appears to have spurred a shift from leading defense officials who generally support LGBTQ inclusion.

Other drag show events have been canceled under pressure before, though without the citation of a newly enforced policy.

That included a drag queen story hour at Ramstein Air Base in Germany last year after Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) penned a letter to the Air Force raising concerns about using taxpayer dollars to put children in a “sexualized environment.”

Stacy Teed, who performs with the Monarchy of Royal Tea, a drag group based out of Ramstein, said all drag events her group performs are privately funded and privately organized on military bases.

Teed, who asked to be identified by her drag name, said it was aggravating for “every opportunity” of representation “being canceled or stomped out” by opposing groups.

“It’s just really frustrating that people who are not in this community are making such a fuss over something that they have little to no idea of,” Teed said. “Why is this person, who is not in my community, trying to regulate everything in my space?”

Teed said a group of local drag performers are preparing to file an inspector general report to challenge the Pentagon policy, with the basis that the policy was implemented in the 1990s, before the 2011 repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

The rule, created under the Clinton administration, instructed military officials to not ask about sexual orientation, but it was criticized for forcing members into secrecy and for prompting investigations and discharges of LGBTQ+ service members.

Teed also cited a judge who recently overturned a ban on drag shows in Tennessee by ruling the law was a violation of the First Amendment protection of free speech as potential grounds for the challenge.

But on Capitol Hill, some moderate Democrats appear to be less inclined to make the cancellation of drag shows a major issue.

Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), the second highest ranking Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), refused to answer a question on whether he supported the drag show cancellation.

Courtney, ranking member of the Seapower and Projection Forces, said he would prefer “to talk about submarines” and “AUKUS,” referring to a security alliance between Australia, the U.K. and the U.S.

Courtney is listed as a member of the Congressional Equality Caucus, which advocates for the LGBTQ+ community.

Several moderate Democrats on the HASC, as well as on the Senate side of the committee, also did not respond to requests for comment on the Pentagon drag show ban.

Jennifer Dane, an Air Force veteran and a former executive director of MMAA, said the Defense Department should present more transparency around the basis for the decision, warning of a chilling effect on service members.

“I don’t really think they know the unintended consequences of it,” she said of the Pentagon leadership. “The lack of transparency and understanding of where this is coming from really harms the communities.”

Dane, who identifies as lesbian and was previously investigated by the Pentagon under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” policy, said the U.S. military is sending the wrong message amid a historic recruiting shortage.

“You need to recruit the next generation,” she said. “And the next generation of recruits is Generation Z, which is the most LGBTQ-friendly and diverse.”

Sarah Streyder, executive director of the Secure Families Initiative, which represents active-duty military families, said the cancellation of drag shows raises questions about whether the Pentagon truly supports the LGBTQ+ community.

“This decision, at the beginning of Pride Month, sends a hurtful and exclusionary message to our LGBTQ+ military families,” Streyder said in a statement. “It also ignores the reality that drag has been an art form used in military events for over 100 years.”

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