It's not 100% an outright drag ban, though there are a lot of valid concerns that the law could have a chilling effect on drag. The governor Bill Lee hasn't spoken extensively about this bill but he did sign it last week without a lot of fanfare. A performance would have to meet a pretty strong three-prong test, which basically says the average person would have to find it obscene and patently offensive to prevailing community standards. It must also lack serious literary, artistic, political and or scientific value for minors to be found harmful under the obsidianity code.
Melissa Brown, a state politics reporter for The Tennessean, spills the tea on Tennessee’s new drag restrictions. And drag performer Bella DuBalle promises the state’s queens have no plans to sashay away.
This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey, and hosted by Noel King.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
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