drag queens

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Lawmaker Settles With Drag Queens, to the Tune of $200K

NH Rep. David Love falsely called one a sex offender, accused one of 'rubbing butts' with kids

(Newser) - A New Hampshire state lawmaker is about to be out $200,000 after a defamation settlement with two drag queens was reached. In a suit filed in April 2022 by Robert Champion and Michael McMahon, the two said that GOP Rep. David Love of Derry had accused Champion of being...

Juror to Drag Perfomer: 'Sorry You Went Through This'

Eric Posey wins $1.1M in defamation suit against blogger who falsely claimed he exposed himself

(Newser) - A jury has awarded more than $1.1 million to an Idaho drag performer who accused a far-right blogger of defaming him when she falsely claimed that he exposed himself to a crowd during a Pride event in June 2022. The Kootenai County District Court jury unanimously found Friday that...

In Nashville, 'Outlaw' Country Artists Push Back on Tradition

Alternative performers pigeonholed as 'Americana' try to break into the mainstream—but it's not easy

(Newser) - When you hear "Tennessee," it's hard not to think of "Music City"—the nickname for the state capital of Nashville, home to the Grand Ole Opry and the heart of country music. But while that may call forth visions of white dudes in cowboy boots...

Judge Scraps Tennessee's Controversial Drag Law

Thomas Parker strikes down legislation on restricting drag, calling it 'unconstitutionally vague'

(Newser) - A federal judge says Tennessee's first-in-the-nation law designed to place strict limits on drag shows is unconstitutional. In a 70-page ruling handed down late Friday night, US District Judge Thomas Parker wrote that the law was both "unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad." He also added that the...

Dodgers Do 180 on Pride Night After 2nd Round of Backlash

MLB team uninvited LGBTQ+ charity group after conservative complaints, then reinvited them

(Newser) - It didn't seem out of the ordinary that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence , an LGBTQ+ charity and satirical performance drag group in which participants dress as nuns, had been invited to the Los Angeles Dodgers' 10th annual Pride Night next month. The group was set to receive a "...

City Names America's First Drag Laureate

'My goals are to make San Francisco sparkle,' D'Arcy Drollinger says

(Newser) - Anti-trans legislation is roiling the nation, and bills prohibiting drag performances are cropping up in statehouses. San Francisco is fighting back Thursday by naming the nation's first drag laureate, an ambassador-style position designed to represent the city's famous LGBTQ+ community at a time when rights are under attack,...

Governor Who Wants Anti-Drag Law Queried on High School Pic
Tennessee Governor Signs
'Anti-Drag' Bill
UPDATED
Mar 3, 2023 12:30 AM CST

Tennessee Governor Signs 'Anti-Drag' Bill

Bill Lee has his own drag controversy

(Newser) - As promised, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday signed what's being referred to as an "anti-drag" bill, though the word "drag" does not actually appear in the legislation, the AP reports. The new law categorizes "male or female impersonators" as "adult" performers, meaning they cannot...

RuPaul Has Inexplicably Disappeared From Social Media

No one's sure why TV personality has vanished from Twitter and nixed posts on IG

(Newser) - "What's going on?!" That's just one of the many perplexed pleas for information as People and Us Weekly report on what has turned into a social media mystery: the disappearance of RuPaul online. Fans noticed Thursday that the 59-year-old drag queen and RuPaul's Drag Race...

Drag Queen Story Hour Sparks Small Town Furor

Events planned outside America's big cities aren't always welcomed

(Newser) - Once upon a time, in 2015, a writer in San Francisco named Michelle Tea got the idea for "Drag Queen Story Hour": men in full drag reading children's books to kids and parents in programs aimed at providing "positive and unabashedly queer role models." Since then,...

New in New York: Drag Queen Story Hour

Library brings drag queens in for story time with children

(Newser) - It takes a certain something to be a good storyteller: enthusiasm, timing, and a flair for the dramatic. Performers at a children's story hour at a New York City library have all that and then some—they're drag queens. About once a month since last fall, the Brooklyn...

Lil Miss Hot Mess and Co. Win Facebook Battle

Company apologizes for suspending drag queens' accounts

(Newser) - Victory for Sister Roma, Lil Miss Hot Mess, and hundreds of other drag queens who had fallen afoul of Facebook's "real name" policy: The company says it will ease up on the policy and they can carry on using their stage names. The drag queens had their accounts...

Here's Your New Facebook Alternative

Since Facebook began requiring real names, some users are finding another home

(Newser) - When Facebook started aggressively enforcing its "real name" policy recently, a whole lot of people got bent out of shape real fast—including but not limited to drag queens, reports the New York Times . One issue at hand is that some people have multiple identities, not just the one...

12 Stories