On a Tuesday evening opening for Betty Who at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl, drag superstar Shea Couleé decided not to mince words when introducing herself. “Some of you may know me from a little show called RuPaul’s Drag Race,” she cheekily began her comments towards the cheering audience. “Have you ever heard of it?”
She steeled herself for what she knew was coming next. “Well, I’m not going to claim that anymore, because I guess technically it’s not really cool to do drag in Tennessee — according to the Governor Bill Lee,” she said, as the audience loudly booed the mere mention of their governor. “Yeah, what the f–k?”
Coulee was just one voice among a chorus of dissent regarding Tennessee’s newly passed law that prevents drag artists from performing in public spaces. While the scope of the latest in a series of laws targeting the LGBTQ community…
