Republicans Claim Gender Nonconforming Clothing is the Same as Being Naked

Every ban on drag is based on this single, dangerous premise.

by Evan Urquhart

The comparison has been made over and over. It’s in just about every public statement from conservatives on the attempt to ban minors from drag shows. Conservatives believe bans to be warranted because minors are banned from going into strip clubs. Here are some examples of Republicans making the comparison:

In a statement to NBC by a spokesperson for a state senator who was introducing a drag ban:

In a far right op-ed explaining why drag bans are needed:

An anti-drag protester, in a comment to local TV news:

Again and again the same comparison is made, between drag shows and stripping. It can be traced back to a single anti-trans activist, Christopher Rufo, who openly bragged online that he’d decided to make drag the next culture war battle by referring to drag queens as “trans strippers.”

When asked to defend their opposition to drag, opponents point to raunchy sexual language, jokes, prosthetics, and profanity. But if you look closer, you’ll notice that none of the bans have targeted any of those things. How could they without banning parents from allowing their children to watch prestige television shows, R rated movies, or even attending the sermons of some particularly fiery anti-gay pastors? The bans focus on the performer’s clothing, specifically the fact that they are wearing clothing more commonly associated with the opposite sex. Here’s a sample text from a bill introduced in Arizona:

To the right wing a person who is fully clothed in clothing more typical of another gender, in other words, is the same as a naked person. This is the absurd, extreme result of the right’s attempt to portray everything that any LGBTQ+ person does as inherently sexual and inappropriate for children.