Despite the current rise in anti-LGBTQ legislation across the nation and in Kentucky, some LGBTQ+ people and their allies are still putting together events celebrating queer culture and demonstrating the importance of solidarity and community.
The ACLU of Kentucky has identified several anti-LGBTQ bills working their way through the state legislature – including a Senate priority bill that would prohibit gender-affirming care for incarcerated transgender Kentuckians and a bill that would protect conversion therapy in the Commonwealth.
Despite increasing political and social pushback, some LGBTQ+ people say events such as drag shows and pride festivals have become powerful symbols of defiance against discrimination and censorship.
Murray Pride, a group based out of Calloway County, recently hosted a drag show at Wits’ End, a local record store. Murray Pride President Charlie Heeke, who goes by the drag name Vyvyka Evangeline, said drag has always been – and will always be – an outlet for queer expression and joy even in the wake of intense social conflict.
“We like to say that it's extra prominent today, but I would like to argue [that] the hatred has always been there, just like we have always been here,” Evangeline said. “It's important for us to stand up and say ‘We're still here and we're not scared of you.’”
Last year, a group of Republican legislators introduced a measure that would have classified drag performances as “adult-oriented” entertainment, and would have limited where drag shows could take place. While the bill passed the state Senate, it ultimately failed to pass the House.
Chris Hartman, the executive director of the Fairness Campaign, says the LGBTQ community will continue to grow and thrive despite legislative attempts at queer censorship.
“Our opponents want to eradicate the places where we gather publicly, joyfully, but the reality is that LGBTQ community and pride is spreading at unprecedented rates,” Hartman said.
In recent years, there has been an increase in legislation specifically targeting the transgender community specifically, such as the hotly-contested SB 150.
Evangeline said the art of drag has always had ties to the trans community. Drag artists and other gender non-conforming people have played pivotal roles in advocating for universal LGBTQ rights.
“It was drag queens – black trans women – who rioted and got us our rights,” Evangeline said. “There's always been a niche within the community for drag and for us to bend those gender norms, and that in itself is resistance when you live in a binary government.”
