Florida’s drag panic is missing the mark.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier recently asked the Pensacola City Council to cancel the Dec. 23 performance of A Drag Queen Christmas, describing the show as “demonic” and “anti-Christian” in a letter from his Office of Parental Rights.
His letter succeeds extensive discourse over the show, including Adam Cobb, the City Attorney’s legal advice that cancelling the show is in direct opposition to the first amendment. Uthmeier singled out performers including Suzie Toot, whom he called a “demonic Betty Bop” (a misspelling of Betty Boop) and Trinity “The Tuck” Taylor, whose drag name he referred to as a slight against the Christian theology of a “holy trinity,” even though she has cited the character of the same name from The Matrix as her name inspiration and is not a part of this year’s A Drag Queen Christmas cast.
Suzie Toot responded to the callout on her X account — “step aside tootsie scooter, Demonic Betty Bop is in town.” She subsequently changed her X profile picture to an edited version of her Betty Boop-esque photoshoot with Vogue and her name on X to the moniker from Uthmeier.
Trinity “The Tuck” Taylor also responded via social media, posting a video to her Instagram account in which she not only called the Attorney General “James Urethra,” but encouraged Floridians to sell out the tour’s Florida leg. “Show them [A Drag Queen Christmas] the support so we can show this administration [that] drag is fun,” Trinity said. “If you’re worried about children, worry about gun control and feeding them instead of worrying about drag queens.”
Pensacola City Council members discussed and responded to the letter on Nov. 10, noting that the letter is an unsolicited opinion, not a binding order, and warning that canceling the performance could expose the city to legal challenges and damages. “With all due respect to the Attorney General’s office,” council member Charles Bare said, “this was an unsolicited opinion. As far as I’m concerned, this is his personal opinion written on government letterhead wasting taxpayer dollars.”
“If someone doesn’t like drag, they don’t have to go. It’s as simple as that. But banning it for everyone, that’s censorship.”
– Saenger employee and local resident Andy “Andy-Rodginus” Kardasz
Drag as community
Drag and female impersonation may be sensationalized and controversial now, but it has long been a staple of Florida’s queer culture. The Tampa Bay Times cites Tampa’s earliest drag performances in the late 1800s. Drag performance and pageantry is also a historic part of Orlando’s LGBTQ+ culture; the earliest gay nightclub, The Palace opened on Edgewater Drive in 1969, the same year as the Stonewall Riots in New York.
At Rollins College, we have Spectrum’s annual drag brunch, co-hosted with PRISM and the Student Center for Community and Connections (formerly the Student Center for Inclusion and Belonging). In the contemporary, Florida hosts both local and touring drag performances year-round despite protests from politicians like Ulthmeier.
Despite the Attorney General’s letter, A Drag Queen Christmas will be performing in Orlando at Hard Rock Live on Dec. 21 and making its way to Pensacola at the Saenger Theatre on Dec. 23. Tickets are on sale for both tour locations.
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