'We're Here' drag queens seek to lift Tennessee, but the state comes across as a hellscape
Sasha Velour, Jaida Essence Hall and Priyanka donned their wigs, gowns and high heels and sashayed through the Tennessee State Capitol during the premiere last Friday night of Season 4 of the Max show “We’re Here.”
It was sheer coincidence that the television program aired a day after the Tennessee General Assembly adjourned for the year.
The show follows the exploits of three drag queens who typically visit small American cities to fight intolerance against the LGBTQ+ community by walking out in public in full drag regalia and putting on a drag show featuring community members trying to find their voice and the courage to be themselves in their hometowns.
This time, with a different cast from the first three seasons, the trio visited the Nashville area, including the city proper, Murfreesboro and Shelbyville.
They came in response to a growing number of state laws and proposals targeting the LGBTQ+ including a 2023 ban against children viewing drag shows, a law which courts to date have found violate the First Amendment.
As someone who’s lived in Nashville for 10 years, who identifies as gay and who has witnessed the number of anti-LGBTQ laws increase over time — I think there are things the show is getting right and wrong about the environment in Tennessee.
Here’s what “We’re Here” got right about Tennessee
Out of drag, the trio looks like deer in highlights around town because of the perception that they — and perhaps many inside and outside Tennessee — carry that the state is unsafe for and hostile to non-heterosexual, non-cisgender people.
In the show, of which I have watched every episode, the drag queens are the heroes who sprinkle proverbial fairy dust on everyone around them to make a town more fabulous and rebuke bigotry.
It seems to this season will follow the same formula.
Occasionally, they do elicit stares, insults and threats from the public.
The Bible is now an official Tennessee book. The state is walking a constitutional tightrope.
Ever since the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, lawmakers in the Republican-dominated Tennessee General Assembly have proposed and passed an array of laws aimed at the LGBTQ+ community, among them:
Restrictions on bathroom use based on the sex on one’s birth certificate
Allowing counselors to deny services to clients based on “sincere principles”
Education bills restricting curriculum and allowing for books bans, many of which have targeted LGBTQ+ themes, authors or characters
Ban on gender-affirming care for minors who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria
Prohibiting people to change their sex on their driver’s license if they transition as transgender
These laws target an underrepresented minority group for political purposes, limiting their freedom, health choices and self-determination with the nefarious intent of painting people as threats to children.
As polling has shown greater acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community and more people, especially youth are coming out at as queer, trans or nonbinary, the backlash from politicians and anti-LGBTQ+ groups has been intense.
In March 2023, I wrote a column titled “Do LGBTQ residents fight or flee Tennessee after the new drag law takes effect? because the legislative environment has become very scary for the community.
In addition, there have been violent threats against drag queen reading hours at libraries and an attempt that passed the House, but failed in the Senate, effectively to prevent Pride flags from being shown in public school classrooms.
The City of Murfreesboro denied a permit to Boro Pride in 2023 on public property because a 2022 incident involving a drag performer’s wardrobe malfunction and use of salty language.
That person, Norman Hanks, who ran unsuccessfully for Rutherford County mayor, is one of the show participants, and blames himself for the backlash.
A rally to ban gender affirming care for minors led by major state politicians such as U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood, in the fall of 2022 at near the state Capitol delivered what could be seen as an official condemnation of LGBTQ+ rights.
No wonder the drag queens and others might think Tennessee is a hotbed of intolerance.
But that’s one part of the story.
What “We’re Here” gets wrong about Tennessee
The stories of people trying to live their truth — such as a Black trans woman named Maleeka from Shelbyville; musician Bradford Lewis, father of trans and nonbinary children, from Old Hickory; or Norman Hanks, the former mayoral candidate from Murfreesboro — are important to amplify.
However, missing from the “We’re Here” narrative are the leaders, activists and members of the LGBTQ+ community who are advocating for acceptance, running businesses including gay bars, and placing Pride flags in front of their home, in spite of the backlash.
Missing at least in episode one are the bars including Trax, Tribe, Play, Canvas, Frankie J’s, Pecker's Bar & Grill, and Lipstick Lounge, one of a handful of lesbian bars left in America.
While it was thought that broader acceptance would diminish the role of the gay bar, violent acts such as the massacre of 50 people at Pulse night club in Orlando in 2016 and a flurry of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in states such as Tennessee have made queer bars essential safe places for community and camaraderie.
Also, missing are the advocacy groups such as the Tennessee Equality Project, inclusion tn and Tennessee Pride Chamber (formerly Nashville Area LGBT Chamber) and Pride festival organizations such as Nashville Pride.
Absent were prominent leaders residing in the Nashville area including retired MTSU Professor Marisa Richmond who was the timekeeper at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
The General Assembly has had a few openly LGBTQ+ lawmakers including Rep. Torrey Harris, D-Memphis, and former Rep. Eddie Mannis, a Republican from Knoxville.
Odessa Kelly ran for Congress in 2022.
There are other openly out elected officials including Montgomery County Commissioner David Shelton and At-Large Metro Council Member Olivia Hill, the first openly trans person elected to office in Tennessee.
Other Metro Council members of that body’s LGBTQ caucus are Emily Benedict, Russ Bradford and Brenda Gadd, and former LGBTQ+ council members include Nancy VanReece, Brett Withers and Zach Young (who is unopposed this year in his run for Nashville School Board District 3).
And there are others the volunteers of PFLAG, the leaders of health organizations such as Nashville CARES for Music City PrEP Clinic, and many more.
All this is to say that the show tends to present Tennessee as a nearly irredeemable hellscape.
But there are several people who are stepping up in spite of discriminatory legislation.
Tennessee lawmakers ignored our pleas not to arm teachers in schools. We'll vote them out.
“We’re Here’s” next two episodes will stay focused on Tennessee so I am eager to see what will happen. New episodes drop on Max at 8 p.m. CDT on Fridays.
What has happened since the drag queens left Tennessee?
Season 4 of “We’re Here” was filmed in the summer of 2023 and it appears the legislature was out of session.
When the drag queens arrive at the Tennessee State Capitol, they are led to the House floor by “Tennessee Three” member Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, who was famously expelled before being returned to office earlier that year.
They entered the House floor and spoke to an empty chamber.
They walked to Gov. Bill Lee’s office nearly, but their request to enter was denied by security.
Since filming last year, there have been several developments.
The 2023 Boro Pride festival was eventually held at Middle Tennessee State University’s Tennessee Miller Coliseum.
Tennessee Equality Project with the ACLU of Tennessee sued and won a $500,000 judgment against the City of Murfreesboro and its city council repealed its decency ordinance, which targeted LGBTQ+ people.
Tennessee Senators Blackburn and Hagerty did a disservice by voting against Ukraine aid
In 2024, there are two Pride festivals planned in Murfreesboro.
Meanwhile, Franklin Board of Aldermen narrowly voted to allow its Pride celebration in occur in 2023 prior to a contentious mayoral election featuring Gabrielle Hanson, a former alderman who associated herself with white supremacists and opposed LGBTQ+ rights.
Voters rebuked her by reelecting Mayor Ken Moore with 80% of the vote in the fall.
These wins do not mean the work is getting any easier or that more pushback and discriminatory legislation will be avoided next year.
But when I am asked why I stay in this state, I answer that there are many stories that need to be told in Tennessee, one of the frontlines of the culture war.
And I am inspired by the many courageous people out there doing that work while aspiring to creating a more welcoming environment in Tennessee for all people.
David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He is an editorial board member of The Tennessean. He hosts the Tennessee Voices videocast and curates the Tennessee Voices and Latino Tennessee Voices newsletters. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at dplazas@tennessean.com or tweet to him at @davidplazas.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: 'We're Here' drag queens don't fully get gay and trans Tennessee lives
