Hundreds march in Phoenix: "Arizona loves drag! Arizona loves choice! Protect trans youth!"
Hundreds march in Phoenix: "Arizona loves drag! Arizona loves choice! Protect trans youth!"
Never going back.
A new governor hasn’t stopped the bigoted Arizona Republican Party from continuing their assaults on LGBTQ+ rights. Since the start of the legislative session, multiple bills targeting the local transgender and drag community have been introduced. In response, local drag king, Noelle Cañez aka Daddy Satan, organized the “Fuck my Drag Right?!” protest at the Phoenix Capitol to rally against these hateful bills. Socialist feminist collective, Radical Women Phoenix, also co-organized a solidarity march in support of LGBTQ+ rights and in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision.
The Current State of LGBTQ and Reproductive Rights in Arizona
Last year, Arizona saw serious setbacks in reproductive rights after the fall of Roe. The republican war against all things queer also resulted in multiple transphobic laws including a sports ban and restrictions on trans youth healthcare.
When Roe was overturned by the Supreme Court last June, abortions in the Grand Canyon State stopped immediately. Clinics were unsure about the legality with two different state bans possibly in effect — a 1864 territorial-era total ban and a newly-passed 15-week ban. Days later, then attorney general Mark Brnovich declared the total ban to be the law of the land.
Protests broke out immediately, lasting months. Arizona activists marched, shut down road intersections, interrupted 4th of July festivals, and covered the Phoenix Capitol fence in fake blood. Law enforcement (and the occasional right-wing chud) responded brutally.
The months following the SCOTUS decision left Arizona abortion access in a constant state of change. A court found the 1864 ban to be unenforceable; they later ruled that doctors can’t be prosecuted under the territorial-era law. However, just last week, a court ruled doctors can face criminal penalties if they knowingly perform an abortion on a patient who is terminating due to fetal genetic abnormalities.
As of now, the 15-week ban remains in effect. These restrictions have left more patients requiring out-of-state care, if they’re able to get care at all.
Last year, the AZ Senate Republicans also promised they were coming for drag performers in the 2023 legislative session. Within the first few weeks of the new year, over 100 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced throughout the country. Six came out of Arizona, with three of the bills singling out the local drag community. More are sure to come as the Republican Party continues their obsession with policing bodies and gender.
SB 1001 is a pronoun bill targeting transgender and gender nonconforming students. Under SB 1001, teachers would be banned from referring to their transgender students by their chosen pronouns and name if it differs from their birth certificate. Teachers can ask for the parent’s permission to use their student’s pronouns, but this opens transgender students to forced outing. With over a quarter of transgender youth experiencing homelessness and housing instability due to their identity, this bill will harm those with unsupportive parents the most.
“When I told my parents, all I got was conversion therapy,” commented local teacher Sadie Redfern at the first Senate Education Committee hearing on SB 1001. “This legislation sends a message of hopelessness. It would treat transgender children as if they’re invisible and easily erased.”
If the transphobic intentions weren’t clear enough, SB 1001 would still target transgender students who DO receive full parental permission. Teachers can ignore the student and parent’s request under so-called “religious convictions.”
SB 1026 will ban state money from being used to fund drag shows with minors present. Sponsor John Kavanagh could find no examples of this occurring in Arizona.
SB 1028 would categorize ALL drag as an “adult cabaret performance” and limit where drag shows and events could be held. All drag performers and shows would be 18+ only, banning family-friendly drag events and outlawing drag at Pride.
SB 1030 would categorize ALL drag performances as an “adult oriented business” akin to sex shops and strip clubs. This would put restrictions on when drag shows and events could be held. SB 1030 also defines drag as anyone who dresses in clothing opposite of their gender, echoing anti-crossdressing laws of the past.
SB 1040 is a bathroom and locker room bill, limiting transgender and gender nonconforming students from using the facility of their choice.
More recently, Arizona’s newest far-right blowhard Rachel Jones introduced HB 2312. The House bill would protect women’s shelters from gender discrimination lawsuits if that person was born a “biological male.”
The majority of the new anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced by former police officer turned state legislator John Kavanagh and former (dirty) police officer turned state legislator Anthony Kern. From policing bodies in the streets, to policing bodies in the state legislature.
“I am utterly offended they even have the audacity to tell me what the fuck I can do with my clothes, my art, my everyday life. We are human beings that was born into a world of freedom and ain’t no old ass white man is going to stand there and tell me what to do with my life,” shouted local drag king Sir Nate to loud cheers at the Sunday rally.
Fuck My Drag Right?!
On Sunday, January 22, hundreds showed up at the Phoenix Capitol for the “Fuck my Drag Right?!” protest. Police drones closely buzzed around the rainbow-packed rally, surveilling the crowd.
Co-organizer Susan Massey with Radical Women Phoenix opened by recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision and the future of bodily autonomy in Arizona.
“Six months ago when Roe was overturned, a lot of people focused on mourning what we had lost but the truth is that Roe failed so many people. It was the floor, not the ceiling. Lots of people have had their bodily autonomy infringed, even under Roe, for decades. Assaults like the Hyde Amendment, attacks on who we can be and who we can love, and this is part of that. They’re not just trying to control our reproduction, they’re also trying to control who is a woman. They’re trying to control who we can have sex with because all of those are part of the same thing. They’re trying to control us.”
Massey closed out by reading a letter from Radical Women’s sister organization Mujeres Por La Libertad, an Argentinian feminist collective. The message of solidarity condemned the U.S. attacks on bodily autonomy: “If they touch one, they touch us all, so we see the attack on women’s rights to decide and queer rights in the U.S. for what it really is an attack on all of us around the world.”
For the next hour, over a dozen more took the megaphone. Transgender activists and drag performers, both in and out of drag, advocated for their right to free gender expression.
“What they see is an opportunity to send a message with this legislation. To tell us that they hate us. To tell us they don’t support us. That they don’t want us to exist. Not just the drag queens but everyone, because we represent all of you,” said Boulet Brothers' Dragula season 4 contestant and local drag performer, Astrud Aurelia.
“Drag is fun, drag is art, drag is nightlife, drag is community, drag is love, but more than all of that drag is fucking protest,” they continued.
Multiple students representing Support Equality Schools Arizona (SESA) addressed the crowd. Only weeks ago, the youth-led group led a body bag protest on the Capitol lawn to bring awareness to the disproportionate rates of suicide and thoughts of suicide amongst LGBTQ+ youth.
SESA leader Dawn Shim continued their message from weeks ago: “When you’re passing these measures you’re allowing kids like us to feel harmed, to want to kill themselves. They’re killing kids.”
Far from the “protecting children” narrative republicans like Kavanagh and Kern often tout. Shim further condemned those who dismiss the nature of the bills with Governor Katie Hobbs promising to veto any anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. The introduction of these bills alone fosters “an environment for queer kids in Arizona that is unsafe,” she explained.
Cheryl Klein, now retired, recalled living through decades of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, police violence and the AIDS epidemic. “This legislation is taking us back to those days,” she warned.
“I am living history. You are living history,” Klein told the mostly-younger crowd.
Before marching around the Capitol grounds, lead organizer Noelle Cañez/Daddy Satan left Anthony Kern and John Kavanagh one final message. Along with the crowd, Cañez called Kern and Kavanagh and shouted on their voicemails: “Arizona loves drag!” Throughout the Capitol grounds, signs with Kern and Kavanagh’s contact information were displayed.
As the crowd marched around the grounds, their chant was clear: “Arizona loves drag! Arizona loves choice! Protect trans youth!”