War against drag shows: DeSantis says it protects kids, but LGBTQ community feels attacked
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Drag queens are nothing new. The theatrical art form has been around for centuries in various forms, and it’s been popular in the United States since at least the 1970s ― including the ongoing TV hit “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” now in its 16th season.
But for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Republicans, drag queens are suddenly one of the biggest battles being waged in an ongoing “culture war” between conservatives and liberals. That includes a new law expected to be signed any day now by DeSantis, effectively banning children from attending drag shows in Florida.
Those opposing drag shows say children should not be exposed to what they call sexually explicit content.
“It’s like everyone just realized drag happens,” says Andy Spaulding of Fort Myers, who performs throughout Southwest Florida as popular drag queen Alyssa Lemay. “And, oh now there’s this Boogeyman. They’re more scared of drag queens than people were of the zombies in 'The Walking Dead.' ”
Drag performers and LGBTQ people in Southwest Florida say they’re worried about the bill and a wave of similar ones being passed by Republican leaders across the country. They feel like their culture and even their right to exist is being attacked.
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Drag queens ― men who lip-sync to pop songs, dance and otherwise perform dressed as women with exaggerated clothes, makeup and femininity ― are a core part of LGBTQ culture and they’re often the public and political face for LGBTQ causes. They’re usually the most visible and photographed performers in Pride parades and other events across the country, including ones in Naples, Cape Coral and Fort Myers.
Drag is an art form that's supposed to be funny, entertaining and theatrical, says Dominique Sierra of Cape Coral. She dresses as a man when she performs in Southwest Florida as drag king Nick D’Cuple.
That’s why Sierra says she’s upset about the proposed new law.
“It makes me feel very depressed, actually,” she says. "I feel like we’re being set back 100 years again, you know?”
Sierra, Spaulding and hundreds of other drag queens and members of the LGBTQ community marched in Tallahassee Tuesday and rallied on the steps of the state Capitol building. They were protesting the drag bill, as well as other recent Florida bills they say target trans and LGBTQ people.
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Florida law would ban drag shows with kids present
Senate Bill 1438 (SB 1438) ― also called The Protection of Children Act ― doesn’t explicitly use the word “drag," but it comes at a time when state officials are targeting drag shows with children in the audience. It allows state officials to fine venues or revoke their business licenses.
Passed by the Florida Senate on April 11, the bill follows DeSantis’ lead in the battle against drag performers in Florida.
In March, the governor filed an administrative complaint seeking to revoke the liquor license for a Miami hotel that held a Christmas drag show. The complaint ― filed with the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation ― claims children were present for a show that included simulated sex acts, exposed “prosthetic female breasts” and other “lewd, vulgar and indecent” behavior.
DeSantis argued in the complaint that the touring show violated Florida’s lewdness laws. He’s previously filed similar complaints against other venues hosting drag shows.
“Having kids involved in this is wrong,” said DeSantis – whose assistant said he wasn’t available for an interview with The News-Press and the Naples Daily News − during a July 2022 press conference. “That is not consistent with our law and policy in the state of Florida, and it is a disturbing trend in our society to try to sexualize these young people.”
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If signed by DeSantis, SB 1438 would ban children from attending "adult live performances” – something many interpret as also affecting drag shows. Such performances are defined as “any show, exhibition, or other presentation that is performed in front of a live audience and in whole or in part, depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, specific sexual activities, … lewd conduct, or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts.”
The bill further defines such shows as predominantly appealing to "prurient, shameful, or morbid interests” and being both "patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community" and “without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for the age of the child present.”
An amendment to the bill also blocks government entities from issuing licenses for such shows – a move that could potentially shut down Pride parades and other public events featuring drag queens.
Drag queens, LGBTQ community say they feel attacked
DeSantis and supporters of such drag bans say it’s necessary to protect children from what they call “sexually explicit” drag shows. But others call the new law “a smoke screen” aimed at suppressing LGBTQ culture.
They also say there’s a big difference between adult drag shows you’d find at gay bars and clubs ― which often do feature sexual humor and behavior ― and the more family-oriented shows you'd see at drag karaoke and LGBTQ Pride events in Naples, Cape Coral and Fort Myers. Those shows don’t typically feature nudity, sexually explicit dress and behavior or even many curse words.
Callhan Soldavini, a board member for Naples PrideFest organizers Naples Pride, questions the motives behind the bill.
“Attacking drag performance under that false cloak to protect children is really just a scheme to be able to attack the LGBTQ community at large and Pride events at large,” Soldavini says. “This whole time you’re wondering, ‘Why is this happening?’ It’s just so bizarre. …
“EVERYONE wants to protect children. But I don’t see how restricting children from drag does that."
Annette Trossbach, co-founder and artistic director for Fort Myers’ The Laboratory Theater of Florida, says many people are worried about SB 1438 and how it will affect theatrical events and LGBTQ culture in Southwest Florida. But they’re afraid to speak out for fear of possible retaliation from the Florida government.
Even she admits she’s afraid of being singled out by going on the record, but she says she feels an obligation.
“I am choosing to speak out,” Trossbach says. “Someone has to speak out. We have to keep talking about it.”
The News-Press and Naples Daily News contacted five of Southwest Florida’s best-known drag performers for this article, but only two responded and agreed to be interviewed. Three local LGBTQ bars that host drag shows also didn’t respond.
The nonprofit PRIDE Cape Coral ― which regularly features drag queens in its outdoor PRIDE Cape Coral parade and celebration ― declined to comment.
No more ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ or ‘Kinky Boots’ in Florida?
If the bill is signed into law, it could do more than dramatically change drag shows and Pride events all over the state. It could potentially shut down plays and musicals featuring drag at many Southwest Florida performing arts venues (although it’s unclear if the law would apply to such shows).
Southwest Florida’s two biggest theaters ― Artis―Naples in Naples and Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in south Fort Myers ― often host touring musicals featuring men performing in drag. That includes the hits “Kinky Boots,” “Tootsie,” “Matilda” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” (part of Mann Hall’s recently announced 2023-24 Broadway season).
Neither venue would comment on whether the law would affect their future programming choices. Mann Hall General Manager Scott Saxon declined to be interviewed. And a statement from Artis―Naples only says this: “Theater, and all art, has the unique ability to bring people together, to break down walls of division and to cultivate empathy and understanding. That is the power and gift of the arts and one that must not be taken for granted.”
But Trossbach of Lab Theater worries about the “vaguely worded” law and the chilling effect it could have on the arts and free expression.
Her theater frequently stages shows with drag performers ― both men portraying women and women portraying men ― and she calls it a longstanding art form with a tradition that extends back for centuries (including Shakespeare plays “Merchant of Venice,” “Twelfth Night” and “As You Like It”).
But the bill makes it unclear whether classic shows like those would be allowed.
“The bill is really vague,” Trossbach says. “Language like ‘lewd performance’ and ‘offensive to prevailing standards.’ It’s so subjective.”
She’s also worried about the precedent the law sets. First, they outlaw drag shows. What might they outlaw next?
“Freedom of speech and expression is protected,” Trossbach says. “And we are supposed to defend it ― even if it’s not speech and expression that we agree with. And that is a really shaky precipice that we’re discussing right now.”
Checking IDs at the door
Still, if it comes down to it, Trossbach says she’d have to obey the law and not allow anyone 18 and younger into plays featuring drag performers. That includes Lab Theater’s upcoming summer show “Save Hamlet,” featuring female actors in drag.
They’d still stage the shows, she says, but they’d have to check everyone's IDs at the door.
That’s how The Standard restaurant chain in Fort Myers plans to handle the situation, too. Lemay hosts drag queen karaoke and brunch there several times a week, and kids are sometimes attending (although not usually at Lemay’s drag-queen bingo events).
“It’s pretty clear,” says The Standard owner Chris Blauvelt. “If DeSantis says it’s gotta be 18-plus, I’m gonna abide by that.”
Blauvelt says he gets where some of the recent anti-drag sentiment in the United States comes from. He mentions recent news of New York City’s controversial Drag Queen Story Hour in libraries and schools, where drag queens read to children ― often without their parent’s knowledge or consent.
“Now, that’s wrong,” Blauvelt says.
But what they do at The Standard is different, he says. People usually make reservations and know exactly what they’re attending.
“I understand that you don’t want anyone forcing drag upon children,” Blauvelt says. “We’re not forcing anything upon anybody. We’re not surprising anybody. That’s how we advertise it. Everybody knows.”
He also sees the bill as ironic, considering that DeSantis has billed himself as a champion of parents’ rights when it comes to mask requirements in schools and other issues. Now parents won’t have a choice to take their own children to drag shows.
“You’re stripping the rights of the parents,” Blauvelt says.
The big issue: Children at drag shows
Kids, of course, are at the center of the movement to limit drag shows ― both in Florida and the rest of the country. Opponents of the shows call them “unwholesome” and “sexually explicit” and say children have no place in the audience.
Florida Sen. Clay Yarborough of Jacksonville, who sponsored SB 1438, argued during Senate discussions that the bill is necessary to protect children. The Republican compared the proposed restrictions to covering electrical outlets so kids won’t harm themselves.
“We can’t un-see, we can’t un-hear and we can’t un-experience the stuff that goes into our minds,” the Republican said. “As lawmakers we have a responsibility to protect children from conduct that is patently offensive to prevailing standards in our communities.
“The legitimate concern for parents and our constituents is about children being exposed to nudity, sexual activities and lewd conduct.”
It’s a sentiment shared by drag protesters elsewhere in Florida, as well.
In March, members of the political group Stop Naples Drag protested the Naples City Council’s earlier decision to let Naples Pride hold its annual LGBTQ event Naples PrideFest in Cambier Park. The event usually includes drag queens.
The council had previously approved the permit by a vote of 5-2, although Mayor Teresa Heitmann later changed her vote that had approved the event.
Naples Pride ― the nonprofit that runs the Naples Pride Center and provides various services for LGTBQ people ― eventually decided to move the upcoming drag show inside and make it an 18-and-older event. Although board member Soldavini says she hopes future events will be able to include drag queens in the open.
They didn’t make that decision because of political pressure, Soldavini says, but because they’re worried about possible violence from hate groups targeting drag queens and event attendees ― including children at the June 10 event.
“These groups are very intimidating,” she said and mentioned signs promoting violence against LGBTQ people seen at that Naples City Council meeting. “That level of hate has not existed out in the open. ... The DeSantis cultural war has really changed how we have to operate.”
Still, Soldavini hates the optics of moving the drag queens inside ― especially since they’re such a big part of LGBTQ culture.
“When you restrict children from accessing something,” she says, “when you move something to a closed space, it gives you that eerie sense of ‘go back in the closet’ or ‘this is something that isn’t appropriate for children.’”
Members of Stop Naples Drag declined to be interviewed as individual members, but they agreed to answer questions as a group via Facebook Messenger.
The group has pledged to stop all drag shows in Naples where kids might be present, not just Naples PrideFest. Their website calls PrideFest's drag shows an "inappropriate display of unadulterated wokeness."
“We believe that our community’s children should not be exposed to sexually explicit content in our streets,” they wrote in Messenger. “It’s that simple.”
When asked what they consider to be sexually explicit, the group responded: “Men dressing as women, typically in sexually suggestive costumes, and performing sexually suggestive dances in front of children, is sexually explicit by definition. Our city should not be complicit in exposing children to this lewd and inappropriate content.”
It’s unclear if Stop Naples Drag was referring to drag performers, in general, or specific things they’ve seen at Naples PrideFest. Fest organizers say their drag queens don’t perform sexually explicit material at the event.
Stop Naples Drag didn’t respond to a follow-up question asking for clarification and declined to give examples of sexually explicit clothing and dancing they’ve seen at PrideFest.
Toning down public drag shows
To be fair, the definition of “sexually explicit” can be highly subjective. Spaulding, for example, performed recently as Alyssa Lemay for Drag Queen Karaoke at The Standard. He wore high heels, a wig, heavy mascara and a houndstooth pantsuit with low-cut cleavage partially exposing fake breasts.
But Spaulding says he largely tones down shows if he knows kids are present. That includes LGBTQ Pride events in Cape Coral and Naples and his drag-themed events at The Standard.
A recent Drag Queen Karaoke audience at The Standard was mostly adults except for one teenager who initially consented to an interview and said he was there to support his own LGBTQ culture. His mother, however, later revoked permission to use his name and said she worried about possible retaliation against the trans boy.
“We know our audience,” Spaulding says. “And we know there’s a possibility of kids being present. So anyone we bring in (for Pride events or other family events), we say it needs to be PG or PG-13.
“Everyone slips up and accidentally says a bad word every once in a while. … But language-wise, music-wise, everything is toned down.”
Soldavini of Naples Pride says she brings her own 1-year-old daughter to family-friendly drag shows. Those shows aren’t risqué or sexual, she says. They’re just meant to be fun and entertaining.
“Most of the time, we listen to them with a smile,” she says. “They bring joy. …. I love them. My husband loves them.”
She says she hates the idea that she might not be able to bring her own children to drag shows now. And she resents that decision is being made for her.
“It’s such an infringement on our basic rights to freedom of speech and expression,” she says. “Now there are laws, just due to these cultural wars and this false lens that we’re going to protect children. We wouldn’t be able to do things that bring us value and joy and that really are an essential part of the LGBTQ community.”
Connect with this reporter: Charles Runnells is an arts and entertainment reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. For news tips or other entertainment-related matters, call him at 239-335-0368 (for tickets to shows, call the venue) or email him at crunnells@gannett.com. You can also connect with him on Facebook (facebook.com/charles.runnells.7), Twitter (@charlesrunnells) and Instagram (@crunnells1).
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Florida drag queen ban: What it could mean for theater, LGBTQ community
