Tennessee became the first state on Thursday to enact a drag ban, barring performances from the public eye or where there are minors present.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed HB 9 into law just days after a high school yearbook photo surfaced of him appearing in drag — in a wig and cheerleader skirt — as part of a powderpuff football game. He has not confirmed or denied his appearance in the photo.

Multiple media outlets are attempting to suggest Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is guilty of hypocrisy over a photo from his 1977 high school yearbook. 

Lee is set to sign a bill that would outlaw drag shows from certain public areas that can be exposed to children, making a first offense a misdemeanor and the second offense a felony. 

But a photo from the 1977 Franklin High yearbook surfaced on social media showing Lee wearing a wig, cheerleader uniform and a pearl necklace alongside girls wearing men’s suits. 

“If I hadn’t been a girl, I’d have been a drag queen.”

Dolly Parton has uttered those words famously and often. But if she really were a drag queen, one of Tennessee’s most famous daughters would likely be out of a job under legislation signed into law by Republican Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee says it would be “ridiculous” to conflate a recently surfaced yearbook photo of him wearing women’s clothing in high school to drag show performances currently under attack in Tennessee and other GOP-led states.

Lee told reporters this week that he plans to sign legislation that would severely limit where drag performances can take place by banning “adult cabaret entertainment” that is “harmful to minors” from public property or locations where children might see the performance.

Embattled Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) appeared to shift his response to photos apparently showing him in drag years ago, after saying earlier this week that reports that he performed as a drag queen were “categorically false.”

Reporters barraged Santos with questions about the photos as he arrived at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Saturday, according to CNN.

Of course, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his administration would contribute to the latest Christmas-themed targeting of drag queens as some existential threat.

The state's Department of Business and Professional Regulation sent a letter Wednesday to the Orlando Philharmonic Plaza Foundation in Orlando, Florida, because their venue was hosting A Drag Queen Christmas, a touring stage production crossing the country that's been around for eight years.

Drag performers, known for their exuberance in the spotlight, have found their spirits subdued in the last month by serious concerns for their safety on stage.

Police have yet to disclose a motive behind the Nov. 19 shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colo., which left five people dead and at least 17 others injured. A 22-year-old suspect was charged with 305 criminal counts, including bias-motivated crimes.

The White House invited Marti Gould Cummings, a nonbinary drag queen who has repeatedly attacked police online, to attend the Respect for Marriage Act signing ceremony Tuesday.

Cummings thanked President Biden and first lady Jill Biden and shared an image of the digital invitation in a social media post Monday. Last week, the House passed the legislation, which mandates the federal government recognizes same-sex marriages instates where they are legal, in a 258-169 vote that included 29 Republican votes days after the Senate approved the bill in a 61-36 vote.

FNC's Tucker Carlson opening statement from Monday, 19 September 2022:

TUCKER CARLSON: If you're used to thinking of Canada as our slightly dorky Arctic cousin, literally the last nation on earth where the mullet is considered a legitimate haircut, the country where American fads go to die, and of course, you're used to thinking all of that about Canada because it has long been true. It's time to think again.

Nevada Democratic senator Catherine Cortez Masto quietly honored a drag queen and self-described "faglicious homo" for his years of work with children at a local library.