Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) on Thursday protested an amendment added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that prohibits funding for drag performances featuring an enlarged photo of former President Trump and Rudy Giuliani, a Former New York City mayor and Trump lawyer, dressed in drag.
An amendment introduced this week to the annual defense policy bill by Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) would prevent funding made available by the measure from being used for drag events. The amendment was approved Thursday by voice vote.
“Most of our fighting forces are inspired by GI Joe; they are not inspired by ‘being a Barbie girl in a Barbie world,’” Brecheen said Thursday when introducing her amendment. He accused the Defense Department, which banned drag shows on military bases last year, and President Biden of “pushing a sexual agenda” on military personnel and young children.
Garcia on Thursday criticized Brecheen’s amendment, which he said reflects anti-LGBTQ sentiment more broadly.
“My Republican colleagues want us to believe that gays are trying to murder us,” Garcia said Thursday, while gesturing to a meme of Jennifer Coolidge’s character in HBO’s “White Lotus.” “They want to believe that drag is harmful, immoral or wrong. This is completely ridiculous.”
“Now, I hate to say this to my Republican colleagues, but LGBTQ people have fought and died for this country since the American Revolution, even as they have been forced to hide their true selves,” Garcia continued. “The USO and the Red Cross organized drag shows during World War II – the army that defeated Hitler and saved the world included drag queens.”
Garcia added that former President Reagan, who began his career as a Hollywood actor, starred in the 1943 film “This is the Army,” about an actor whose World War I and World War II musicals include drag performers.
“And he’s not the only Republican president who knew that drag can be fun and sometimes silly,” Garcia said, accompanied by the enlarged photo of Trump and Giuliani. The image is part of a comedy sketch the pair recorded in 2000, when Giuliani was mayor of New York City, for that year’s Mayor’s Inner Circle Press Roast.
In the sketch, a video that resurfaced during the 2016 presidential election, Giuliani, dressed as his drag persona “Rudia,” flirts with Trump, who then buries his face in Giuliani’s fake breasts.
Drag in recent years has emerged as an unexpected political flashpoint, with Democrats and Republicans divided over whether the performances are appropriate for young viewers. Advocates defended drag as a form of self-expression that challenges social and gender norms and promotes inclusivity.
Lawmakers in at least a dozen states this year introduced legislation aimed at restricting drag events that take place in public or where they can be seen by minors, although almost all of them failed to become law. Six Republican-led states last year passed legislation restricting trawling, but enforcement in four of them — in Florida, Montana, Texas and Tennessee — is blocked by federal court orders.
Legislation introduced last year by Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) would have banned the use of federal funds for drag events, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in 2022 introduced legislation that sought prevent the use of federal dollars. exposing children to “sexually oriented” material, which he said at the time included drag shows.
House Republicans passed a similar drag ban in last year’s NDAA, though that and other amendments criticized for targeting LGBTQ people were eliminated from the final bill.
Garcia, one of just 12 openly LGBTQ members of Congress, has previously protested legislation and rhetoric targeting drag shows. In March 2023 interview with O AtlânticoGarcia called drag “an important art form” and promised to protect performers from attacks led largely by conservatives.
Garcia last June, during which Pride month is recognized, celebrated the achievements of RuPaul Charles, the superstar drag queen and host of the reality show “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” on the House floor, in part to protest the laws anti-drag.
House lawmakers also voted Thursday to add amendments that would block funds made available in the annual defense bill from being used by transgender service members and dependents for gender-affirming health care — care that is considered medically necessary by all major medical organizations.
Other GOP-backed amendments under consideration would ban certain books with LGBTQ themes and characters from Department of Defense-funded schools and prevent military installations from flying Pride flags.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
