Pro-drag activists are putting up a billboard in Austin to protest an upcoming Texas law that bans “sexually oriented performances” from being held in front of children.
The billboard will be erected using money raised from a GoFundMe campaign. The owner of the campaign is a “husband and husband team” that operates an Instagram account called “Rupublicans,” which posts AI-generated images of Republican politicians in drag. The account’s moniker is a spin on drag queen and reality TV host RuPaul’s name.
“Mind your wigs, not our gigs, Greg!” the planned billboard reads, referencing Gov. Greg Abbott.
“DEFEND TEXAS DRAG,” the couple posted on Monday, noting that donations have closed with $16,525 raised. The billboard will go up on August 28 on the southbound side of Interstate 35 in North Austin for four weeks.
“[I]f we raise enough, we’ll snag more billboards in other areas,” the couple wrote on GoFundMe.
They also noted that they will donate $2,077 each to four LGBTQ organizations in Texas — Out Youth, Equality Texas, Transgender Education Network of Texas, and a Dallas-based LGBTQ Resource Center.
The couple is putting up the billboard in protest of SB 12, which was signed by Gov. Abbott in June. The law will take effect on September 1.
SB 12 targets “sexually oriented performances,” which include “the exhibition or representation, actual or simulated of sexual acts, including vaginal sex, anal sex, and masturbation.”
Under the law, “a person commits an offense if … the person engages in a sexually oriented performance: on public property at a time, in a place, and in a manner that could reasonably be expected to be viewed by a child.”
“There is a serious issue if the ‘RuPublicans’ have actually read SB 12 and still disagree with it. The bill doesn’t ban any drag shows. It prohibits children from attending sexually oriented performances, which should be common sense,” said Kelly Neidert, executive director of Protect Texas Kids, in an emailed statement to The Dallas Express.
Regardless, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas filed a lawsuit against the state, claiming the legislation targets the LGBTQ community and suppresses artistic expression, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
“Texas politicians are using hate and fear to criminalize drag and the businesses and nonprofits that support it — simply because the art form is associated with the LGBTQIA+ community,” the ACLU of Texas claimed. “This is offensive and wrong. Drag can take many forms for audiences of all ages.”
The trial is set to begin August 28 — the same day the couple’s billboard is scheduled to go up.
Many state lawmakers have maintained their support of the upcoming law.
“Sexual performances are not acceptable forms of expression in front of or entertainment for children,” Rep. Jared Patterson (R-Frisco) said previously. “Adults used to agree on such things, but the far left sees our young children as opportunities for self-gratification.”
“It’s evil, it’s disgusting and it will be met with the same resistance Texans have shown throughout our storied history of fighting oppression,” he continued. “The [ACLU of Texas] is a radical entity and the enemy of all Texans who cherish wholesome family values.”
Drag shows have become a hot-button issue in Texas, even the ones that do not allow children.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, West Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler canceled a drag show in March that was to be held on campus, claiming that drag was insulting to women.
“Drag shows stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood,” said Wendler. “Drag shows are derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny, no matter the stated intent.”