Déjà Vu: Anti-Drag Texas GOP Lawmaker Goes Viral in Drag Video
A Texas Republican lawmaker whose bill would legally designate any establishment that serves drinks and hosts drag shows as a "sexually oriented business" has gone viral in a video that shows him in drag, the Daily Beast reported.
The outlet detailed that "first-term Texas state Rep. Nate Schatzline has admitted it was him in videos that surfaced on TikTok and Twitter showing a man in a dress performing skits to the song 'Sexy Lady' by Javi Mula."
A Twitter post including the video shows Schatzline as a lawmaker who has "made out his priorities to attack [the LGBTQ+ community] and [transgender] children in Texas, and criminalize drag shows."
"Yet here he is," the meme adds, "...in drag"
If that sounds awfully familiar, the reason might be that earlier this week a photo of another GOP official in drag — Tennessee governor Bill Lee — also went viral. Lee has vowed to sign legislation, already approved by the GOP-led Tennessee state legislature, that characterizes drag shows as being "harmful to minors" regardless of actual content, and will restrict where they can take place and what audiences may see them.
But a high school photo of Lee dressed as a woman circulated widely on social media, raising eyebrows in the process.
Lee called drag shows "sexualized entertainment" and "obscenity," language not much different from how Schatzline defended his own drag performance.
Responding to the Twitter post that includes video of his drag display, the Texas state congressman acknowledged "wearing a dress as a joke back in high school," but insisted that his foray into the time-honored theatrical genre of drag was different from the shows his bill seeks to restrict because "that's not a sexually explicit drag show..."
"lol y'all will twist ANYTHING," Schatzline added.
The Daily Beast explained that Schatzline's bill would "denote any kind of business that allows 'on-premises consumption of alcoholic beverages' and performances by a person wearing any clothing or makeup not stereotypical to their born sex as 'sexually oriented businesses.'"
The outlet also noted that a strict interpretation of the bill Schatzline wrote could result in a restaurant no longer being allowed to serve minors "if a transgender woman wore makeup and sang karaoke" at that establishment, and questioned whether "a transgender waiter singing 'Happy Birthday' to a patron would classify a restaurant as a 'sexually oriented business.'"
Though theatrically exaggerated in terms of couture, wigs, and makeup, it's highly debatable whether drag — a theatrical form that has been part of plays and movies for centuries, without noticeably harming children — are indeed "sexually explicit" as a general case, particularly when they are designed to be family-friendly and age-appropriate for children, as is the case with Drag Storytime Hours, events in which drag performers read to children at libraries or other public settings.
Those nuances, however, have not been part of the sexualized messaging that Republican officials and right-wing pundits have promoted, and right-wing protestors have taken up arms — in some cases, literally — against drag events, mounting protests (sometimes with Neo-Nazi or white nationalist symbols on display) and issuing threats at libraries, restaurants planning drag brunches, and other drag events.