So Shakespeare Is Out?

Fresh off of a disastrous night after focusing on attacking LGBTQ people, Republicans in Tennessee have pre-filed a bill to criminalize drag shows as an obscenity punishable as a class A misdemeanor and up to a felony. pic.twitter.com/oGe83HiZeM

— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) November 9, 2022

Or Monty Python?

Yes, on the Elizabethan stage men had to dress like women (No Girls Allowed!), but many of Shakespeare’s comedies still require cross-dressing. 

Take “Twelfth Night.” The protagonists are fraternal twins, but she dresses like a man because she’s a stranger in a strange land (even 500 years later it’s not a bad strategy). And then her employer falls in love with her, but that just confuses him (because he thinks she’s a he).

You could put a woman in that role (in fact, you should), but she’d have to wear men’s clothes for most of the play. So, drag show? Or not?

And then there’s the question of male clowns dressing as female for comic effect. I guess we can just bar Cirque du Soleil from Tennessee.

And I’m still wondering if my home can be raided for streaming Python on Netflix.