Drag artists slam Texas bill that could ban minors from drag shows: 'Apparently we're more deadly than guns'

Never has Alyssa Edwards' iconic, "What the f--- is going on in here on this day?" quote been more applicable, as drag artists from all reaches of the industry have united to slam a Texas politician's legislative proposal to ban children from attending drag shows just two weeks after 19 elementary students were shot and killed by a gunman at school in the city of Uvalde.

Republican state representative Bryan Slaton announced Monday that he will propose a law aimed at protecting the state's kids from "perverted adults" he alleged were "obsessed with sexualizing young children" after the Mr. Misster bar in Dallas held a family-friendly event, "Drag the Kids to Pride," Saturday as part of their ongoing LGBTQ Pride Month celebrations.

"Our God is a God of Love," tweeted Alyssa — a Texas native who rose to prominence as a choreographer and fan-favorite contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race season 5 — in response to the announcement from the self-described "Christian Conservative" politician. "You, sir, have tweeted more about #drag than the loss at #Uvalde. Is this truly about children or politics? #Priorities."

The official RuPaul's Drag Race Twitter account also shared a video of Alyssa speaking about how drag allowed her to step into her own confidence, later adding a link to a Trevor Project study which found that "LGBTQ youth who lived in an accepting community, had access to affirming spaces, and/or felt high social support from family & friends reported significantly lower rates of attempting suicide in the past year."

Drag Race season 11 star A'Keria C. Davenport, also a Texas-born queen, encouraged her followers to "get out [and] VOTE" in order to "protect [ourselves] and the next generation."

"Apparently we're more deadly than guns. What an ass backward state," observed season 13's Denali of the focus on trying to protect children from drag performers amid a wave of deadly school shootings.

Maxi Glamour, who starred on season 3 of The Boulet Brothers Dragula noted that it was important to foster a diverse perception of the world for children at an early age.

"Kids are future rockstars, they're future painters, future museum curators or even future art critics," Maxi tweeted. "It's important they grow up in a world where art is all around them, because in the future they'll be the ones keeping it alive."

In fitting drag fashion, Atlanta-based performer Taylor Alxndr summed up the discourse with a comically simple — yet effective — observation: "Drag brunches are FAR safer than schools," Taylor wrote on Twitter. "The only people getting hurt at drag brunches are the drag queens shablaming on the concrete to Dua Lipa. Get your priorities in check."

EW has reached out to Slaton's office for a response to the backlash against his proposed bill.

The sentiment comes days after HBO Max's drag-themed makeover docuseries We're Here — starring Drag Race alums Eureka, Bob the Drag Queen, and Shangela — moved forward with filming a drag performance for an upcoming episode at Town Square Park in St. George, Utah, after local city council member Michelle Tanner voiced concerns that "sexual-related issues" could arise in a public space frequented by children.

"I think we're seeing a lot of sexualization of children in general, so I don't feel like that's appropriate," Tanner told EW, later noting that she's "seen episodes where there are boobs shaken in the face. There's obviously mature content discussed, there are swear words, things like that," but could not point to a specific instance on We're Here where the drag queen stars ever did such things in front of a minor.

Read more reactions from drag industry personalities — including Marti Gould Cummings, Michelle Visage, Bob the Drag Queen, and Joey Jay — below.

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