Castmembers from RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars spoke out against legislation aimed at the LGBTQ community and responded to “threats against drag performers” in their acceptance speech for best competition series at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards.
“At this time it’s so important to hear queer and trans stories from queer and trans people, to meet the artists behind the artistry and see the human beings there, so we can have empathy for one another and halt these blatantly bigoted anti-queer, anti-trans legislations,” season 7 winner Jinkx Monsoon said in a prerecorded acceptance speech.
Jinkx was joined by fellow All-Star Jaida Essence Hall, who highlighted the ACLU’s Drag Defense Fund, created by RuPaul’s Drag Race, production company World of Wonder and MTV “in response to these threats against drag performers all across the world and especially here…to help support the ACLU’s work preserve and defend LGBTQ rights across the land.”
On the fund’s page on the ACLU’s website, the organization declares it is “committed to the importance of drag as a First Amendment right and an important form of artistic expression.”
The fund supports the ACLU’s advocacy work, including courtroom battles and challenging classroom censorship.
The comments came as numerous states have introduced anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans legislation in recent months including bills seeking to restrict how and where drag performances can take place.
In March, Tennessee passed a first-of-its-kind law, later blocked by a federal judge, restricting drag performances and other forms of “adult cabaret entertainment” in the state.
According to the ACLU, 47 anti-LGBTQ bills have been passed this year.
