Meanwhile in the bible belt the ACLU is fighting a city's ban on drag shows.

[beam me up scottie]

ACLU of Tennessee Threatens Suit Ahead of City’s Ordinance Banning Drag Shows
by ryan williams-jent
September 17, 2017 5:56 PM

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee is threatening suit ahead of a vote on an ordinance banning drag shows in the city of Portland, Tennessee.

As HuffPost reported, “drag has recently become part of the nightlife in Portland, Tennessee, a town of about 12,000 just outside Nashville. Kyle and Raymond Guillermo, Jr. of Elite Productions have been holding drag nights at Envy, a Portland restaurant and bar since August.”

Following a sold-out show on September 5th, town officials began the notion of of classifying drag shows as a form of “adult-oriented business” that “may be erotic (in) nature.” Local measures prevent “adult-oriented business” within most of the city’s limits.

Guillermo told the Tennessean that the ordinance was a response to a drag show his company had organized on August 12th, noting that afterwards he had received hate mail. “People are trying to get us out of Portland,” he said. “We are drag queens, we are not taking our clothes off. We are not cabaret.”

“Courts have held that government can impose some reasonable restrictions on adult entertainment,” the ACLU of Tennessee said in its statement. “However… artistic expression is not sexual or erotic in nature simply because it involves male or female impersonators and, therefore, it cannot be regulated like ‘adult-oriented businesses.’”

“The First Amendment protects freedom of speech and expression, no matter what you are wearing,” the chapter’s legal director Thomas H. Castelli said. “It’s discriminatory and unconstitutional to single out male and female impersonators in a bid to shut down their speech. If members of the city council are uncomfortable with the drag show, they do not need to attend the performance. But they can’t ban it.”

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/ryanjent/aclu_of_tennessee_threatens_suit_ahead_of_city_s_ordinance_banning_drag_shows?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=PM&utm_content=ACLU+of+Tennessee+Threatens+Suit+Ahead+of+City’s+Ordinance+Banning+Drag+Shows

Link to tweet

Thank Cthulhu for the ACLU.








*Posted in the Atheists and Agnostics group, the most sinful and most hosted group on DU

[Docreed2003]

1. I'm actually more shocked that there's a drag show in Portland, TN

Than I am that these prudes would be protesting the show. Portland is a small, rural town a stones throw from where I live. The only thing I can think is that the show must be associated with a roadside bar or something, because Portland is on I-65. Guess I have a reason to go to Portland now, lol!!

[beam me up scottie]

2. They're putting them on at a club called Envy, and they're sold out.

Last edited Mon Sep 18, 2017, 10:55 PM - Edit history (1)

I have friends in Portland and they think it's awesome. We plan to go as soon as my boyfriend can get the night off.

I hope they expand and start having drag parades like they do on Sundays in Montreal. Make it a family affair!

[Docreed2003]

3. You live near Nashville Scottie?

[beam me up scottie]

4. Yep, we live north of the city.

Waaaaaay out in the boonies.

[Docreed2003]

6. Small world!!

I grew up in the boonies north of Nashville. We're more suburbanites now, but I miss the quiet of the country!

[bitterross]

5. I was shocked too. I'm from Gallatin, TN

I was born in Gallatin and lived in Oak Grove - really, really close to Portland. In fact, during summer break in college I'd work at a factory in Portland.

I almost fell out of my chair when I heard about this.

To their credit, most of my FaceBook friends from home that still live in that area are all supportive of letting the show go on. They say if you don't like it then don't go.

[Docreed2003]

7. I was born in Gallatin as well.

I have family that live/lived in Oak Grove/Westmorland. I grew up between Westmorland and Gallatin. Small world.

It's cool that the club is getting local support! Like I said, now I've got a reason to drive up there!!

[msongs]

8. never saw anything remotely sexy at an drag show witnessed by me. mostly its just

silliness

[beam me up scottie]

9. That's because it's not meant to be erotic.

The bible thumping fussbudgets on the council are only using that as an excuse to ban the shows.

Drag is an art form, imo, and an important one.

A Brief History of Drag in the Art World

Drag has a rich cultural history, spanning cross-dressing performances and deliberate parodies of fixed roles of gender and sexuality. Men have been performing on stage as women since the Ancient Greek tragedies, Shakespeare famously cast men as women, and Baroque operas featured early examples of drag.

The term “drag queen” was first used to describe men appearing in women’s clothing in Polari—a type of British slang that was popularized among gay men and the theater community in the late 19th and 20th centuries. And while drag has long maintained a powerful presence in popular culture, more recently, it has developed a strong foothold in the art world as well.

Today, in the wake of the popular television program RuPaul’s Drag Race, drag queen Conchita Wurst winning the Eurovision Song Contest, and new drag-themed club nights popping up across London, New York, and L.A., one could say that drag is in the midst of having a mainstream moment. Riding this wave of popularity are art galleries and museums. Recently, drag has been identified as an influence among major art exhibitions, like the Whitney Biennial in New York, and performance programs, like “Contemporary Drag” at NADA New York this past March. It also serves as one of the themes in the new show “Queer British Art” at Tate Britain.

Artists have historically created work that might not be considered or intended to be “drag,” but nonetheless similarly challenge and deconstruct rigid social and sexual archetypes. Take, for example, Marcel Duchamp’s female alter ego Rrose Sélavy, who first appeared in 1920. The character’s name was a pun on “Eros, c’est la vie” (meaning “eros, it is life”) and she appeared in several portraits taken by photographer Man Ray. Sélavy was an expression of Duchamp’s love for subversion and enigma. Similarly, the artist Claude Cahun was the male alter ego of the Surrealist Lucie Schwob, who took self-portraits dressed in male garments.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-history-drag-art

[defacto7]

12. The bible beating fussbudgets are being aroused

by it. Most of us appreciate the entertainment. It's fun. Fun makes you happy. But the bible beaters are emotionally disturbed and worried that their guarded sexual desires put their salvation at stake. They don't want their naughty sins thrust into the open!

[beam me up scottie]

10. There was a rally in support of the drag queens while the council met:

Link to tweet

A few hellfire and brimstone types showed up to heckle the protesters, much hilarity ensued.

[Duppers]

13. Yay! Love it.

Btw, I never realized there are so many DUers here living in my home state.

[mountain grammy]

11. GO ACLU! Best money spent in America.

If you ever get to Denver... Lannie's Clocktower Cabaret! Almost more fun than an old lady can take.