When I awoke this morning that Australian entertainer Barry Humphries, best known to the world by his alter ego Dame Edna Everage or simply Dame Edna, had passed away at the age of 89.
I must confess that when I learned of Dame Edna's passing, I could not help but think of the anti-drag hysteria which has swept the minds of Trump supporters and other right-wing Americans over the past year or so. Tennessee recently adopted a drag show ban although a federal judge put the law on hold to scrutinize its constitutionality or lack thereof earlier this month. Methinks the First Amendment applies to female impersonators too.
While Tennessee's law defines "male and female impersonators" as "adult cabaret performers", drag show ban proposals in other states such as Texas would prohibit public exhibitions of a gender identity that is different than the performer's gender assigned at birth."
Humphries largely retired from performing about a decade ago but would make sporadic appearances. If Republican legislatures throughout the country have their way and Humphries had lived to grace our shores once more it would have been unlawful for Barry Humphries to perform as Dame Edna. Somehow the Dame Edna: The Royal Tour managed to take place without corrupting the youth of America. The cruelty and stupidity of the Republican Party knows no bounds.
It is too bad that Dame Edna is no longer with us because her presence and Barry Humphries' creation in Tennessee or in any other state implementing drag show bans would have exposed the cruelty and stupidity of which I speak as Boris Johnson found out long before he took up residence in 10 Downing Street. R.I.P.
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