How Beyoncé show may be powerful queer celebration in face of Tennessee's anti-LGBTQ+ laws

Beyoncé's concert at Nashville's Nissan Stadium on Saturday will not just be entertaining. With Tennessee's political landscape as a backdrop to her album "Renaissance," the show should be a powerful experience.

"Renaissance" is dedicated to her gay Uncle Jonny, whom she's described as "the most fabulous gay man I've ever known." He introduced her to the queer-friendly culture and music her latest album celebrates.

A who's who of ballroom culture and hip-hop dance will be featured as well, including Honey Balenciaga, Hannah Douglass, Darius Hickman, Jonté Moaning, Carlos Irizarry and the French duo Les Twins (twin brothers Laurent and Larry Nicolas Bourgeois).

Tennessee is a state where gender-affirming health care and "adult-oriented" entertainment — including "male and female impersonators" — are hotly debated in the legislature. Numerous pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation passed in 2023 alone (including a law banning gender transitions for minors), with another dozen-plus in process, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Beyoncé could join many voices in queer solidarity

Multiple musical acts have pledged solidarity with Music City's beleaguered LGBTQ+ community while performing in town in 2023.

On March 20 at Bridgestone Arena, the "Love Rising" concert organized by Allison Russell and Jason Isbell featured performances from Sheryl Crow, Brittany Howard, Hozier, Maren Morris, Hayley Williams and more than a few drag queens. It raised more than $500,000 for LGBTQ+ causes in Tennessee.

Also, leading acts of the moment, including critically acclaimed indie-rock supergroup Boygenius (comprised of openly queer musicians Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus), have spoken out during Nashville performances to protest the legal issues of the moment.

At the Re:SET Festival on June 26 in Centennial Park, the trio, their musicians and cameraman all donned drag. Dacus introduced Bridgers as "Queer Urban," Baker as "Shanita Tums" and herself as "Lucille Balls."

Tennessee native Baker stated, "Today, I'm so grateful for my life, not because I get to stand on stage with my best friends… but because I'm content with the person that I am. I have a lot of anger for the people [who] have made me feel small and erased."

Continuing, she appealed to the crowd to join her in antagonizing the lawmakers she perceived as infringing upon her civil rights.

"I've found it's a really powerful and humiliating tool to make those people (expletive) off. I would like you to scream so loud that Gov. (Bill) Lee can hear you."

Could Beyoncé instead mirror Taylor Swift?

Taylor Swift did not use her time in Nissan Stadium from May 5-7 to make explicit statements in support of the LGBTQ+ community. Instead, during a June 2 appearance in Chicago, the artist said she wished "every place was safe and beautiful for people in the LGBTQ+ community."

"Right now and in recent years, there have been so many harmful pieces of legislation that have put people in the LGBTQ+ and queer community at risk. It's painful for everyone. Every ally, every loved one, every person in these communities," she said.

It's plausible that Queen Bey will make an explicit political statement on Saturday. However, the show she's bringing to Nissan Stadium — if it's the same event she's presented worldwide so far — may already say more than she could offer in a statement.

A June 5 Gay Times review of Beyoncé's London tour date called the show a "hyper-camp compendium of queerness" that, "in a time when queerness remains criticized," is an "unforgettable bejeweled invite to her [queer-friendly] rhythmic, shiny world." The UK's Independent also refers to the show as reflecting a "radiant, inclusive future."

A David Bowie throwback moment could be in Nashville's future

If you are wondering how sectors of Nashville at present could respond to Beyoncé's potential Saturday night offering, the past could provide an intriguing clue.

Five decades ago, David Bowie — another progressive-minded and LGBTQ+ friendly artist with a message of radiant inclusivity — performed what The Tennessean's Jerry Bailey referred to as an attempt "to go beyond the realm of 'peculiar' rock and roll into the realm of science fiction" with a "puzzling" and "unsatisfying" performance in November 1972.

Bowie played Nashville at the height of his work as his gender-fluid alien alter ego Ziggy Stardust and weeks after Richard Nixon won a second term as America's president.

A user of BowieNet (an online fan community active from 1998-2006) notes that when Bowie was staying at a hotel near WLAC-TV studios — where "Hee Haw" was taped at the time — Roy Clark (cowboy star of "Hee Haw") saw Bowie dressed as Ziggy.

The BowieNet user offers a memory that perhaps best sums up what the confluence of queer-friendly performance at an NFL stadium in Nashville could yield in 2023.

"Bowie just glances and nods and Roy Clark stops and I swear his mouth fell to the floor and his eyes bugged out. We laughed so hard."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Beyonce in Nashville: Anti-LGBTQ+ laws to backdrop queer celebration