By Talia Reiss
The GOP markets itself as the pro-child party, aggressively working to protect America’s youth from the menacing threats of role models and life-saving healthcare.
In March, Republican lawmakers in Tennessee passed two pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation: one which effectively bans drag shows in public spaces and within view of children, and another which prevents transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming healthcare. The former bill’s sponsor, Rep. Chris Todd (R-Madison County), called the legislation “a common-sense, child safety bill.”
But Tennessee Republicans don’t seem quite as concerned about child safety when 9-year-olds are gunned down in their classrooms. In the wake of an elementary school shooting that left six dead, Tennessee lawmakers doubled down on their attempts to weaken the state’s gun safety measures, which are already among the most permissive in the country.
The Tennessee legislature has moved forward with a pro-gun bill that would drop the minimum age for permitless public gun-carry to 18.
Their refusal to address gun safety concerns was met with public outcry. Earlier this month, over a thousand student protestors packed into the Tennessee Capitol to peacefully demand gun control. Among the demonstrators were three Democratic Representatives from Tennessee: Justin Jones, Justin J. Pearson, and Gloria Johnson.
In a strikingly undemocratic retaliation, the Tennessee House voted to expel Mr. Jones and Mr. Pearson, the state’s youngest Black representatives. Ms. Johnson, who is white, narrowly avoided expulsion despite having joined her colleagues in leading protest chants.
Mr. Jones noted the hypocrisy of the historical expulsion, one of just three since the Civil War era. “For years, one of your colleagues, who was an admitted child molestor, sat in this chamber — no expulsion,” he said. “One member sits in this chamber who was found guilty of domestic violence — no expulsion.”
It is clear that the GOP cares more about power — maintaining it with support from the NRA, and exercising it by silencing those who dare to dissent — than about protecting children.
The GOP will excuse the massacre and molestation of children, but they draw the line at drag queens?
Yes, advocacy campaigns are not mutually exclusive. Just because guns present the deadliest threat does not mean we can’t also combat other dangers facing our youth. But drag queens and gender-affirming healthcare are not among them.
“The laws passed in Tennessee… are designed to restrict the rights to free speech and personal healthcare liberty for LGBTQ people,” said Brian Mustanksi, director of the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing at Northwestern University. “The problems that these laws allegedly seek to solve have not been demonstrated or explained. There is no evidence of children getting hurt at drag shows, but suicide and homicide are leading causes of death for teenagers, and we should put our energy into these very real and solvable problems.”
Drag queens actually act as role models for children, fabulously representing the joy that can accompany queerness. They teach queer kids that we need not cower in shame, that we are allowed to occupy space in the world, to be loud and proud and flamboyant. Such role models are essential for the health and safety of queer children: one study found that “participants with inaccessible role models showed increased psychological distress versus those with accessible or no role models,” and that introducing LGBTQ+ children to queer role models is “critical.” Drag queens can save children’s lives.
The only way for the GOP to fulfill its promise of protecting America’s youth is to allow children the freedom to explore their sexualities in private, keeping medical decisions between children, their parents, and their doctor. Perhaps more importantly, it is imperative that lawmakers tighten restrictions on gun ownership, starting by implementing red flag laws that would temporarily limit gun access for people at greater risk of inflicting harm.
Only then will the GOP be able to call itself, in good conscience, the party of child protection.