Sometimes, joy, celebration, and community are the best tools we have to fight against hate. When the Texas Legislature attempted to criminalize drag in the state, one drag queen used those exact tools to mobilize her community. We’ll learn how they successfully fought back against the attempt to stifle not just their careers, but their modes of expression. Plus, we take a visit to a drag story hour in Brooklyn, New York to talk to the community of people joining forces to drown out the hate. This episode we’re talking about building change in the LGBTQ community.
Sometimes, joy, celebration, and community are the best tools we have to fight against hate. When the Texas Legislature attempted to criminalize drag in the state, one drag queen used those exact tools to mobilize her community. We’ll learn how they successfully fought back against the attempt to stifle not just their careers, but their modes of expression. Plus, we take a visit to a drag story hour in Brooklyn, New York to talk to the community of people joining forces to drown out the hate.
This episode we’re talking about building change in the LGBTQ community.
Learn more about how you can get involved at actblue.com/buildthechange or follow us on Instagram and TikTok.
ALOK
Before we get started, just a warning that this episode contains mentions of violence. Please be mindful when listening.
BRIGITTE’S TIKTOK
Do y'all know what drag is? What drag? We are drag queens and drag is just playing dress up. Do y'all like to play dress up? Yes. Yes. I obviously love to play dress up. Okay. Um, it's just a little mascara today though. Okay.
ALOK
Brigitte Bandit has been doing drag for about five years now. Often wearing bright blonde hair and a large breastplate, she’s known as the Dolly Parton of Austin. Her drag style is campy, goofy, and colorful, and she brings that energy to a variety of events around Austin.
BRIGITTE
We have a lot of fun. I just want everybody to have a good time. I just want everybody at my shows to feel comfortable and welcome and, uh, we have a lot of fun together. And then we also get a little political.
ALOK
When Brigitte signed onto Zoom for our interview, she was in full drag. A light pink wig looked like a halo of cotton candy around her head. Her facial features were drawn over and replaced with bigger ones: exaggerated lips, big purple eyelids, miles-long eyelashes and a heavy hand of black eyeliner.
She had just gotten back from one of her gigs.
BRIGITTE
I work for this company where they, uh, hire us to go surprise people. And I went to go surprise this woman for her birthday. She was having lunch with her friends at her friend's house, and I just walked in and it was only three of them, and I did a little Dolly number and got to celebrate her birthday with her. It's really fun.
ALOK
At the heart of Brigitte’s performances is a sense of joy and expression – and liberation.
BRIGITTE
I think I've always been interested in, um, drag and like theatrical makeup and also just like, uh, heightened femininity in this, in this way that, uh, it may not be societal societally acceptable on a day-to-day basis.
ALOK
But in 2023, Republican lawmakers introduced a bill to the Texas legislature that threatened her livelihood and community.
In partnership with ActBlue, this is Build the Change, a show about the people at the center of progress and how they create lasting change in their communities.
I’m your host, Alok Vaid-Menon. I’m an author, poet, actor, and advocate…And your companion for this trip around the country. We’re in search of the most compelling causes and stories from the candidates, activists, and everyday people driving them forward.
This episode, we’re looking at how one state successfully fought back against an attempt to stifle LGBTQ expression.
On March 10, 2023, a Texas state senator filed a bill that aimed to criminalize drag in the state of Texas.
BRIAN
The drag ban was something we heard about. It had been proposed in Tennessee and passed in Tennessee earlier in 2023. But it was really a new idea.
ALOK
Brian Klosterboer is an attorney for the Texas ACLU. When Brian saw other states, like Florida and Tennessee, file anti-drag legislation earlier that same year, he was keeping an eye out to see if Texas would follow suit.
BRIAN
No state ever in our country's history has tried to prohibit performances like drag shows specifically. There were a couple of court cases of local government actors trying to pull a permit or restrict one or two kinds of shows, but never had a state pass an entire law targeting a type of performance that's protected by the First Amendment.
ALOK
Even though he was prepared for the possibility that Texas might see some anti-drag legislation, when Brian first read Senate Bill 12, he was shocked. And he didn’t think it would ever become law.
BRIAN
Especially because this law imposes criminal penalties on any performer who engages in such a performance, you know, drag is now ubiquitous throughout our culture. And even if people disagree with it, the idea that they would use the power of the government to try to throw drag artists or venue owners in jail for a year simply because they don't like that kind of performance really flies in the face of the Constitution and First Amendment.
ALOK
Senate Bill 12 didn’t mention drag by name, but it explicitly prohibited artists and performers from performing as a different gender other than the sex they were assigned at birth.
Brian says this is just one example of extreme government overreach. SB 12 was one of more than 140 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced to the Texas state legislature in 2023 alone.
BRIAN
It's, unfortunately just a complete onslaught of bills and state laws really trying to roll back and target LGBTQ plus rights. I think especially in the wake of the Dobbs decision from the Supreme Court in 2022, where the Supreme Court rolled back a 50 year long existing right to abortion nationwide, we've seen tons of money and political capital being pushed into an anti-trans, an anti-LGBTQ plus agenda. They have not only targeted lifesaving medical care for transgender youth, they're now targeting that medical care for adults. And we're seeing a resurgence in bathroom laws as well. The state of Utah seems on the verge of trying to impose criminal penalties on all trans people potentially for using restrooms, um, at airports and elsewhere. LGBTQ plus Americans have made tremendous progress. But now there is this vicious backlash that's quite deadly where politicians, uh, certain politicians are racing each other to see how cruel they can be to the queer and trans communities.
ALOK
SB 12 was gaining traction in the legislature. And Brigitte decided to team up with other members of her community to testify in front of the Texas Legislature.
BRIGITTE
We got together and we wrote our testimonies together, and we even decided, okay, who's gonna talk about this point? Who's gonna get this point?
ALOK
She decided to dress in drag: the same cotton candy pink wig she wore in our interview, and a long sleeve magenta bedazzled gown. It’s an outfit she wears often for drag story hours.
BRIGITTE
I thought it would be helpful, because whenever I'm in drag, people assume I'm a male, even though I look like just a gorgeous woman.
ALOK
Brigitte gets that a lot — people often assume she’s a man in a dress and a full face of makeup. To her, that just goes to show the foolishness of the gender binary. Because Brigitte is an AFAB drag queen. That means she was assigned female at birth.
On March 23, 2023, Brigitte entered the pink limestone Capitol building. She walked through the echoey halls to the Senate Chamber. The room is all green carpet, old wooden desks, and dozens of Texans who had traveled from all around the state to testify about SB12. Brigitte had to listen as supporters of the bill explained why they believe drag performances expose children to sexually inappropriate content. When it came to her time to testify, she says the supporters did not extend the same courtesy to her.
BRIGITTE
They had the people who were speaking for the bill go first. We outnumbered them five to one. Then they brought in the opposing arguments, and whenever they brought up the opposing arguments, the majority of them got up and walked out.
BRIGITTE IN CONGRESS
Good afternoon to the chair and committee. My name is Brigitte Bandit and I'm speaking in opposition to SB 12.
BRIGITTE
So we had been sitting there all day waiting to testify. We had spent hours working on our testimonies, and all these people just get up and walk out.
BRIGITTE IN CONGRESS
These bills discriminate against people based on sex and not the actual content of performances. The only reason this bill would affect me is that most people assume I am male under this costume and I receive the same kind of treatment as any other drag queen.
BRIGITTE
And so I'm just sitting there, it's my first time testifying. I'm like, all the people, all the people whose minds I, I want to change. Genuinely, I want them to listen to me. They're not even here. And I was devastated. Part of me kind of just wanted to walk out and be like, what am I doing? Like, what am I doing with my time? But I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go ahead and, and finish what I'm doing here. And so I went to testify and I made my point, even though it was only three of them sitting there.
BRIGITTE IN CONGRESS
None of us want to have children at our drag shows at the gay bar at 11:00 PM on a Friday night, and there are already laws pre preventing that from happening. But we do wanna continue our events like drag story times that are intentionally modified to be appropriate for children. Drag is simply a form of art and like any form of art, it can be produced by many different kinds of people and be modified for different kinds of audiences. Thank you so much for your time and consideration. Thank you for your testimony.
BRIGITTE
But what I learned is that maybe they weren't wanting to listen to me, but the rest of the world was gonna listen to me. And I kind of understood my power beyond just in that room.
ALOK
Brigitte went viral online. The organization Drag Story Hour shared a video of her testimony, which got shared on Tiktok and Instagram far and wide. All of the sudden, Brigitte was the face of a movement, getting requests to be featured in magazines and on local radio stations.
The attention Brigitte received wasn’t all positive. A right wing group posted Brigitte’s personal information online. And another right wing group manipulated a video from one of Brigitte’s drag story hours, to make it seem more adult and inappropriate. Brigitte started hiring private security at her events because she was worried about threats.
It wasn’t just Brigitte who felt galvanized to protect her community. One day in March, and again in April, hundreds of LGBTQ Texans and their supporters marched to the Texas Capitol to express their anger and fear about the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ legislation, including the drag ban.
Meanwhile, the State Senate passed the bill. It moved on to the House of Representatives. If it passed there, it would move on to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.
Brigitte knew she had to testify again — anything to stop this bill.
In the meantime, Texans were going through a number of local tragedies. A group of Christian nationalists waved flags with swastikas on them outside a drag show in New Braunfels, Texas. That same day, a man shot and killed eight people at an outlet mall across the state in Allen, Texas. The man was wearing a patch on his chest with an acronym common among right-wing extremists. And the news cycle was still filled with reports of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which had happened a year before.
All of the tragedy and hateful rhetoric was swirling around in Brigitte’s head.
BRIGITTE
And I was just so incredibly frustrated with the fact that that's what's happening here in Texas right now. But we're arguing about drag queens.
ALOK
Originally, Brigitte thought she’d show up for her next testimony at the Capitol dressed as Dolly Parton. She is considered “The Dolly of Austin” after all. Instead, she decided to make a special outfit, just for this occasion. An outfit that would force legislators to pay attention to the real issues.
BRIGITTE
I chose to wear a dress with, it was the Texas flag up top. And underneath it I wrote, um, all of the names of the kids, uh, from Uvalde and the kids who died in Allen, just that weekend before. And on the back of the dress, I put “Protect Texas Kids,” which is the name, a name of another, uh, anti LGBTQ hate group here in Texas. So I took their own name and I put it on my dress. But in relation to what is actually harming kids, I put “Defend Our Kids” – another hate group name. Defend our kids from gun violence. Restrict guns not drag. That was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my entire life. My mom helped me make that gown, and I, whenever I called her, like, I just, I just like broke down in tears. And she did too. And we were just sitting there crying on the phone together. 'cause we knew that this was gonna be a really powerful, but also difficult thing to do and wear.
ALOK
On May 10, the Texas House of Representatives’ State Affairs Committee held a public hearing. It began at 9 a.m. Hundreds gathered to debate the bill. Most were in opposition to it. After three hours of testimony, the committee adjourned for a break. That break lasted about 10 hours. But Brigitte was determined to stay and deliver her testimony — no matter how long it took. After 13 hours, she finally spoke in front of the committee.
BRIGITTE IN COMMITTEE
No matter what happens to this bill, we'll be facing the repercussions of this rhetoric that y'all have legitimized by entertaining these ideas based in falsehoods. Just this past Saturday, we had open neo-Nazis waving flags with swastikas on them in protest of an all ages events in the New Braunfels. And north of us, on the same day, we had a gunman with the same kind of neo-Nazis ideation, take the lives of eight Texans going to the mall. By passing this legislation, you stand with the side of these hate groups and violence, real violence that is actually threatening our Texas children. I urge you to do better, not only for our community, but for the families of the victims of Uvalde and now Allen, whose names I wear and who you have failed by spending more time on this legislative session targeting drag queens than gun violence. Texans deserve better. Focus on the real issues. Please stand against extremism.
BRIGITTE
And I also got escorted out by the police. So. I grew up a really good kid. I never broke the rules. Like, I, I never really bucked the system. I, I just kind of like, uh, did what I needed to do. Right. But then I actually did what I needed to do because I wanted to finish what I had to say, but it was really hard for me to continue speaking while he was trying to tell me to leave, you know? But I - I just had to. I had to finish what I had to say, and, but it took a lot out of me. And I, I had a lot of adrenaline when I walked out. As soon as I sat in my car and I just got a, a moment to breathe, I just burst into tears and I just cried.
ALOK
Brigitte didn’t know what would happen to her profession. To her community.
In the past few years, we’ve seen this fear and hatred pop up all across the country. This rhetoric — that drag is inappropriate and dangerous for children — is spreading. One of my producers, Sara Schleede, experienced it firsthand in Brooklyn.
SARA
It’s a cool day in January, and I’m walking to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. I want to visit a drag story hour they’re hosting. I’ve never been to one before. I’m expecting to meet the drag queen, see what elaborate, colorful outfit they’ve put together, watch the kids in attendance squirm around and listen to a story book.
But as I walk closer and closer, I see there’s a protest — and counter protest — outside the museum that catches me off guard.
A few dozen people are clustered around the entrance of the museum. On one side, a small group, wearing mostly black. They’re holding up signs that read things like “gays are groomers,” and “drag is not for children.” On the other side is a much larger and louder crowd with trombones, drums, noisemakers, rainbow umbrellas, and a person in an inflatable unicorn costume.
This larger, more colorful group is called the Defenders. They show up wherever the protestors show up, to drown out the anti-drag and anti-LGBTQ sentiment.
Drag story hours are about more than a fun afternoon at the museum. Even just five years ago, drag wasn’t as widely known as it is today. And the defenders tell me how, if drag story hours had been around when they were kids, their lives might have looked a lot different. I talk to some of the defenders, about why the drag story hours they’re defending are important to them.
THE DEFENDERS - SPEAKER 1
I think it is important to not give up space. Um, I think it is, I think what is being attempted is intimidation, uh, not just intimidation of the drag, the folks doing the drag story hour, but the intimidation of the people going.
THE DEFENDERS - SPEAKER 2
I'm 36. I came out as queer at 31. I came out as trans at 32. And if I had had spaces like this, like getting emotional, if I had had spaces like this as a child, I can only imagine, um, how much different my life would be and how much more secure I would've felt in exploring my, uh, like gender and sexuality earlier.
THE DEFENDERS - SPEAKER 3
Having, like educating on gender, educating on sexuality, it's like these, you could delete all of that content and that will not make those people not exist. Right. Like, we're gonna exist regardless. It's a matter of just having the language to describe it.
SARA
Meanwhile, parents seem undeterred by all the commotion of the protests. Most of them aren’t engaging with the protestors, or the defenders, at all. They walk right by, children toddling along beside them, through the museum doors.
I can’t help but feel like today, to those kids, they’re simply listening to a story read by a person in an outfit that’s more colorful than average. But maybe tomorrow, or ten years from now, they’ll remember this afternoon, and feel more empowered to live authentically as themselves, or at least be more understanding towards those who do.
ALOK
Back in Texas … on June 18, 2023, Senate Bill 12 was signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Afterwards, the governor tweeted out that he has banned drag in public in the state of Texas. Here’s Brian Klosterboer from the Texas ACLU again:
BRIAN
The law doesn't quite reach that far. He was exaggerating a bit. But he was telling people what the law is meant to do.
ALOK
In a last-minute exchange, lawmakers removed any direct reference to drag performers. Instead, in the bill’s final version, it criminalized performers who put on sexually explicit performances in front of children, as well as the businesses that hosted them.
On its face, that doesn't sound terribly controversial. But what was really happening was the Texas lawmakers were trying to avoid getting their bill overturned. That's what happened in Tennessee.
BRIAN
There was a federal court in Tennessee in March that granted a ruling against the Tennessee drag ban for being unconstitutional. And that law in Tennessee, like the original version here, explicitly prohibited artists and performers from performing as a different gender other than the sex they were assigned at birth. And so the legislators in Texas tweaked our law. They took out that explicit mention of performing in a different gender. And they changed the language. So our law, it doesn’t mention drag by name…
ALOK
Brian says the issue is, they defined sexually explicit performances so vaguely that they could come to mean almost anything.
BRIAN
So things like the Janet Jackson Super Bowl performance from several years ago. If there's any kind of wardrobe malfunction, that could now land a performer in jail with criminal penalties. You know, it's gonna be disproportionately used to target the LGBTQ plus community and Black and brown people, but it could target anyone in any kind of performance, whether it's Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, um, the Nutcracker Ballet.
ALOK
So, the Texas ACLU teamed up with drag performers, LGBTQ businesses, and advocacy organizations to sue the state of Texas.
Brigitte was one of the plaintiffs. She drove three hours to Houston for the hearing and prepared to testify again — this time in court. Luckily, speaking in front of an audience comes naturally for her.
BRIGITTE
It was almost like hosting a drag show. You know, like, you put me on a mic and I am, I'm gonna be able to, uh, I'm almost, I'm an entertainer, like a natural entertainer, you know? It was kind of fun to talk with the judge about what's going on. He was like, he was like, I bet you have a, I bet you have a huge, uh, uh, closet. I was like, I was like, yeah, you need to come over sometime.
ALOK
The ACLU argued that the bill is too vague. Like Brian said earlier, the way the bill is phrased, it would criminalize many types of constitutionally protected performances – not just drag. And that would stoke fear amongst all types of performers.
BRIAN
It still would have this huge chilling effect where, you know, people don't wanna be arrested. You know, we're hearing from, you know, Broadway actors who come on tour to Texas and they don't wanna come to Texas if this law goes into effect because, you know, they might be able to perform in Rent or, um, the Lion King or any other show in New York, but then if they come to Texas now, they're subject to all of these ridiculous rules where they could be criminalized just for hugging someone on stage.
ALOK
At another point during the trial, the plaintiffs argued that the law prohibiting “sexual gesticulation” was too vague. That could be interpreted to prohibit common dance moves, like the splits or twerking. The attorney general’s lawyer asked one of the plaintiffs for a demonstration.
BRIAN
The attorney general's lawyer, I think was trying to score points against him. The judge said, well, you don't hear any objection from me. Um, and so our client, very good-naturedly, went ahead and did it. You know, the entire courtroom was laughing, and it was really a moment, I think where the, the cross-examination from the state, you know, could have been perceived as bullying. But our, the client, you know, really took back his power and, you know, happily like demonstrated it for the courtroom.
ALOK
It was a memorable moment for Brigitte too.
BRIGITTE
It's so funny that, that it's, we can still celebrate, um, queer expression and queer joy. Even in the darkest of times, and fighting for our rights, and arguing against these, uh, this bigotry and harmful ideas, uh, even to the point where we're twerking in, in a courtroom.
ALOK
The hearing continued. And the date when the law was supposed to take effect drew closer and closer…
The judge placed a temporary restraining order on the law until he came to his conclusion.
And then, on September 26, he announced his decision. The law was unconstitutional. When Brigitte heard the news, she cried.
BRIGITTE
I'm a Cancer, I cry. It was a, just, just this, uh, sense of relief. Like finally, finally, it's, you know, been at least blocked. You know, I, I know it's not quite over yet, but it feels, it feels good to at least win something finally,
ALOK
For now, the law is not in effect. But it didn’t take long for the attorney general to appeal the ruling.
BRIGITTE
it's just about power and control, right? And if anybody questions them, you know, that ends up, you're questioning the patriarchy, you're questioning misogyny, you're questioning racism, you're questioning all of these, um, these things that uphold the white supremacy and, uh, this government that wants to impose those ideas on everybody, right? And, uh, I think it can be really scary for, to watch people find their power and, and reject those ideas and say, hey, no, actually, this is not what is good for all of us. And all of these ideas are keeping only a certain amount of people in power and with any kind of control. And, uh, I think that that's why drag is scary to them.
ALOK
This anti-drag rhetoric has made things in the Austin drag scene feel different. Venues have reported receiving threats for hosting drag events. Brigitte says she sees lower turnout at shows than she used to, and now when she looks into the audience, she isn’t sure if someone is there as a fan or an adversary. And even walking outside in drag is a risk.
BRIGITTE
There's a lot more, uh, hesitation. And It's difficult just walking from my car to the gig and being concerned about my safety or somebody yelling something at me or, or anything like that in a way that, uh, was not there before. It's difficult for – to exist as a, a visibly queer person in Texas, but we have each other, and that helps a lot. There needs to be a lot more awareness and advocacy work done. And so, you know, I am not gonna shut up on the mic at my shows about everything happening just because a, a judge blocked the bill, you know, because what's gonna happen next legislative session? What happens next?
ALOK
When Brigitte first testified, she had no idea she’d become the political figure that she is now.
To her, drag has always been political. It’s a radical expression of queer joy and artistry. It’s a way to build community, to tell lawmakers, “this state belongs to me too, and I’m not leaving.” But fighting against SB 12 has ushered in a new understanding of her strength.
BRIGITTE
I didn't realize I had that power within me, but I wish I didn't know it because of, because this is what's going on, you know? I appreciate, um, what I've discovered about myself, but part of me is like, I would've also been happy not. At this point, it's not about whether or not it, it happened because it, it has. And, uh, now I know what I am capable of and I will continue doing what I can do, and that's it. Um, and I've, I've found, I found something within me that I didn't know existed.
ALOK
Brigitte became the face of a movement, but that movement needs broad community support. If you’re worried about protecting LGBTQ expression in your community, whether in Texas or otherwise, Brigitte says there are things you can do to help.
BRIGITTE
Support drag artists. Um, some of the easy ways to support drag artists obviously is – have conversations with your friends and family. Make sure that the first time they are exposed to drag is not one of these doctored videos or photos that are spread online. And I think that that is an easy way to just speak with your own community, your own family members and friends about what's going on, and making sure that they're not falling for this, this rhetoric, you know. We need more people out there actually being able to have these conversations. And continue to keep going to the shows and make sure that drag artists are feeling, uh, supported right now.
ALOK
My call for action for you today: In addition to supporting your local drag queens by going to shows, you can also visit actblue.com/buildthechange to find out more about groups that are fighting to preserve LGBTQ expression.
Build the Change is created in partnership with ActBlue, produced by Wonder Media Network, and hosted by me, Alok Vaid-Menon.
Our production team includes Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Sara Schleede, Abbey Delk, Hannah Bottum, and Paloma Moreno Jimenez. Our executive producer is Jenny Kaplan. Our showrunners are Rohita Javangula and Maria Jose Hurtado.
See you next time.