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Married actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick have thrown their weight behind the LGBTQ+ community by performing a dance to raise awareness about bans on drag queens.
Multiple states around the U.S. have successfully passed laws or are trying to limit the performances of drag queens in public spaces.
More than 32 of these bills were introduced in the U.S. states such as Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.
Tennessee was the first to pass a bill that bans "adult cabaret performances" including "male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers," from performing in public places where children could see them.
In Oklahoma, the ban pushes even further and seeks to outlaw performers with a "feminine persona." Kevin West, a Republican state representative, introduced the bill in the state House in January to ban "a male or female performer who adopts a flamboyant or parodic feminine persona with glamorous or exaggerated costumes and makeup."
But now Hollywood actors Bacon and Sedgwick have thrown their support behind the LGBTQ+ community in a dance video that has gone viral.
The Twitter clip starts with the married couple in matching T-shirts and denim jeans standing far away from the camera. They then start doing a simple but flamboyant choreographed dance toward the camera. As the couple get closer to the camera lens, they push their chests close to it so their fans can see what their T-shirts say.
The garments show a person with a twirled-up moustache holding a fan in front of their face underneath writing that reads, "drag is an art and drag is a right."
The video posted to social media has been viewed more than 1.7 million times. It is aimed at promoting a fundraiser for the ACLU's (American Civil Liberties Union) Drag Defense Fund.
This aims to raise money to mobilize against mounting legal attacks against drag performers, push against removing LGBTQ+ book bans and classroom censorship. It also seeks to defend drag in communities across the U.S. and invest in public education.
"#DragBans are bad karma. Right now, drag performers and the LGBTQIA+ community need our help. Shop the @SixDegreesofKB campaign supporting the @ACLU Drag Defense Fund or make a gift https://bit.ly/DragisArt #DragIsARight," Bacon captioned the post.
Peppermint, the ACLU's Ambassador for Transgender Justice and former RuPaul's Drag Race finalist, said the drag bans were just one way in which Republicans were trying to remove LGBTQ+ people from public life.
"It is sort of a catch-all that allows them to attack a word or a notion or an idea, drag, when really what they're talking about is transgender folks," she said on a episode of the ACLU's At Liberty podcast. "Trans issues, trans rights, you know, anything having to do with gender and sexuality, they're trying to dismantle that—dismantle any of the progress that we've had on that, and turn us into the boogeyman."
About the writer
Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more