'We are not going to give up': Drag performers, activists rally to protest Tennessee law
Singer-songwriter Shea Diamond took the stage at Tribe Thursday with emotions running high.
The Los Angeles-based singer is a transgender rights activist and told the story of young child who recently committed suicide after not being accepted by their father as trans.
More than 350 people felt that emotion inside Tribe.
Many, including Diamond, are angry after Gov. Bill Lee signed legislation prohibiting drag performances in public property or where someone under the age of 18 could be present.
"I feel like our community cares," Diamond said. "And our community knows what's going on. We don't have all the names, so giving voice to those who don't have a voice and their stories and their experiences, especially during this time."
Slay Hate
Thursday's Slay Hate: Fight Back Tennessee rally featured drag performances, guest speakers and other performances as activists spoke out against Lee's decision.
Robinson said lawmakers are trying to put LGBTQ+ people back in the closet.
"What we see in this room is only a taste about what they're going to get," Kelley Robinson, Human Rights Campaign president said. "We are in a crisis, and I know that all eyes are on Tennessee."
Drag is joy
Robinson said she loves drag, because it is fundamentally about expression.
"It's about joy, it's about love, it's about a little shade that we always need, but it's about loving ourselves and be boldly, unapologetically. ourselves," Robinson said.
A flame ignited
Robinson said the hundreds of people inside Tribe Thursday are not going to back down at new laws in place.
"We are not going to give up, not today, not ever," Robinson said to cheers. "They don't know what they have ignited in this room."
Ignited is right.
Perplexity, a drag performer in Nashville, performed to the song "Firework" by Katy Perry.
Robinson said activists are going to bring their passion for equality to the statehouse and United States House of Representatives, saying lawmakers are taking away gender affirming care, rejecting HIV funding and providing education about Black and LGBTQ+ history.
But Robinson said those in the LGBTQ+ community are not abandoning their families, theirs friend and are not leaving Tennessee.
Plazas: Do LGBTQ residents fight or flee Tennessee after the new drag law takes effect?
Fighting in court
Fighting the fight in court will be attorneys like National Women’s Law Center Director of Federal Reproductive Rights Leila Abolfazli.
Abolfazli said the bill Lee signed banning gender-affirming care and banning of drag performances are unlawful.
As lawyers like Abolfazli fight battles in court, she said it is important for community members to continue be loud about seeking rights.
"The fight is not going away, and the question is, are you still calling your legislators, are you still showing up to events," Abolfazli said.
Abolfazli said the swift passage of the gender affirming care and drag ban is the consequences of politicians feeling no heat from previous actions they took, like abortion bans.
Reach reporter Craig Shoup by email at cshoup@gannett.com and on Twitter @Craig_Shoup. To support his work, sign up for a digital subscription to www.tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee drag law: Performers, activist sound defiant at pro-LGBTQ rally
