AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate State Affairs Committee voted 6 to 2 Monday to advance two bills cracking down on drag performances, a victory for right-wing legislators waging a war against public displays of queer culture.
“I’ve seen more children and more skin at my local Hooters [restaurant] than any drag show,” said Muneeb Aslam, a graduate student at the University of Texas. “This legislative priority is laughable.”
The Texas bills are part of a national conservative effort to crack down on drag shows by passing laws through about a dozen state legislatures.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, signed the country’s first state ban on public drag performances into law earlier this month, despite having himself apparently dressed in drag back in high school.
Texas Republicans had filed at least 67 bills aimed at imposing new restrictions on LGBTQ Texans as of last month, according to a tally by a coalition of advocacy groups led by Equality Texas.
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