🔥 Drag Under Attack: Fighting Idaho’s Anti-Trans Legislation | Trans Joy Boise w/ Jenna Damron

Idaho lawmakers are once again targeting drag and the LGBTQ2SIA+ community with harmful legislation. In this episode of Trans Joy Boise, we’re joined by Jenna Damron, LGBTQ Organizer at ACLU Idaho, to break down the latest anti-drag bill, the misinformation fueling it, and what we can do to fight back.

🏳️‍⚧️ Topics Covered:
✨ The history of Idaho’s attacks on drag & queer expression
🔥 How doctored videos and right-wing narratives fuel anti-LGBTQ2SIA+ bills
⚖️ The legal battle against Idaho Family Policy Center
💡 What YOU can do to support drag artists and trans joy

📢 Take action by having conversations, spreading awareness, and standing up against these harmful bills. Trans joy is unstoppable!

🎧 Subscribe for more bold voices, real experiences, and uplifting trans stories. New episodes every Thursday. 

#TransJoyBoise #DragUnderAttack #LGBTQRights #ACLU #DragIsNotACrime #TransRights #IdahoLegislation #ProtectTransLives

Transcript

Right. Or Rana. I've been making an agreement that you'll tell me if my hair looks weird. Yeah, it doesn't look so good. OK. But if it gets, if it gets. If it gets weird. If you get rowdy and, OK. Yeah. We'll tell you. All right. You ready? Hi everyone, I'm Bonnie Violet, trans femme, genderqueer, spiritual drag artist, digital chaplain. I'm Pacey, transmasc, non-binary, mental health and recovery advocate. And welcome to Trans Joy Boise, where every story, laugh, and act of joy is a stand for our community. We upload, oh wait, damn, I fucked it up this time. We uphold I wrote it wrong. You wrote upload. I did. I did not mean to. We uphold. All right. You sabotaged me this week. I did not mean to. We uphold. All right. Bold voices share real experiences and celebrate trans lives thriving. Tune in, connect, and spread. The joy, because trans joy is unstoppable. I love it. You sabotaged me this week. I'm going to keep this forever. I really didn't mean to do that. No, I love it. But I'm kind of glad I did. I mean, there was a lot of trans joy in that. All right. I love the new intro. Yeah, yes. We're really excited to have another guest with us this week and someone who we both think is just an absolute badass. We have Jenna Dameron, the LGBTQ organizer at ACLU Idaho. So yeah, if you want to just kind of tell us what you're all about? Yeah, so like Pacey said, I'm an LGBTQ organizer at the ACLU of Idaho. My role really kind of straddles both being in community and doing community organizing work and being in the legislature and fighting specifically anti-LGBTQ bills in our legislature. So we're I think six, six and a half weeks into our legislature right now and it's getting dirty yeah yeah yeah I imagine that you're just really busy all the time Yeah, I feel like I've got two full-time jobs right now. One working and one taking care of myself so I can keep doing work. Yeah, yeah. Well, and because you're like the LGBTQ, I mean, there's stuff happening in a lot of those different areas. Like if you were just focusing on the T or the Q or the drag, which is not part of that, like that's enough just on its own. So yeah, how do you manage that? I think... Just in general, ACLU is actually a really broad organization that works on a lot of different issues. And I'm the person in the organization that gets to be the most narrow in LGBTQ issues. So to your point, it's almost not narrow enough because there's still so much work to be done. But externally, it's like I'm the person that gets to really hone in and focus. And I think that's good because our Republican lawmakers are really honed in. focused right now. And so even just tracking just the LGBTQ bills is almost a full time job. But as an organization, we're tracking, you know, one hundred and seventy bills right now. So I feel lucky that I get to be so narrow and focus on really um one set of bills um but it's yeah it's hard it's there's a lot yeah well and we're we're meeting today to talk about again one of those parts and we wanted to talk a little bit about drag because drag is in the mouths of republicans again yeah and do you want to tell us a little bit about that yeah yeah thing to understand um understand understand we really have to kind of go back to to twenty twenty two um and I'm not gonna get a whole history lesson here today um but there were pride festivals in um in north idaho um and really across idaho that were targeted in twenty twenty two um if you remember that is when the patriot front showed up um to fort elaine's pride in the park event um And luckily, they were stopped before they got there. Yes, a youthful of them was stopped there. But the very next day, from the same Pride Festival, this doctored video appeared of a drag performer in North Idaho performing at Coeur d'Alene's Pride Festival, the very same festival that just a day before had had this awful, hateful, scary targeted incident, right? So this doctored video appears on a far-right blogger website, Twitter, and it's showing what they're saying is an indecent exposure of a drag performer, which is hysterical to me, actually, because if you know anything about drag performers, and particularly drag queens, which this person was, there is padding and layers and there's just really no way that anything could um potentially accidentally be indecently exposed right um but this doctored video appeared um And the Idaho Family Policy Center launched a campaign against drag. And they brought their first drag bill and that bill in twenty twenty three during the legislative session. And that bill actually named this false accusation of this performer. But not as false. Yeah, no, it didn't name it as false. It named it as if it actually happened, even though she had already been cleared by the prosecutors that they reviewed the footage and there wasn't any indecent exposure. And since she's sued and won, right? Yeah. Yeah, so I think that's important context while we're talking about this bill. A drag performer involved in this incident sued the far-right blogger, and that lawsuit was resolved earlier, I think late last year, to the tune of one point one million dollars. I remember that happening. This performer's name is Mona Lisa Millions. Millions. And so shout out to her manifestation. Yes, yes. We've got to change our names. It's really quite beautiful, yeah. This drag performer won the lawsuit against the original far-right blogger that spread this misinformation, one point one million dollars. Now there's an additional lawsuit, which is really interesting because the Idaho Family Policy Center did not take their, so they had a still of the footage that was blurred out and they used it to push this petition to ban Drag in Idaho. And so there's a current lawsuit that has yet to be resolved. that is this Drag Performer versus Idaho Family Policy Center, which brings us to twenty twenty five, where we have the Idaho Family Policy Center introducing yet another bill that seeks to ban drag in certain situations in public. That's where we're at today. See, that seems terrifying that there can be a doctored image or a doctored video and it can be used as legitimate cause to push legislation. Like that seems, illegal and just ridiculous. When they put so much money behind it too, like the family, is it called the Family Policy Center? Idaho Family Policy Center. So I'll tell you, this is great timing because this bill actually got a hearing this morning in the House State Affairs Committee and the Idaho Family Policy Center showed up with their petition, which they claim over seven thousand people have signed to stack papers this big. They presented that to the lawmakers. This is the petition that they're being sued over. Oh, wow. So they're using that doctored image. They collected signatures and then they're now using that. Can they do that when they're in court for it? I mean, like it matters. Yeah. The question of like, can they do that in the legislature? It's like they did. I think the court battle, specifically the court battle between this individual performer and the family policy center, we'll see how that plays out. But there's some pretty good news articles on this that seems to say that, you know, that this performer's lawyers are saying that the evidence and their case is really strong. That just seems like it's making a total mockery of the court system to have fake evidence. And I know, and this is probably the most frustrating part for me personally, is if it were the other way around, like say there was a Democratic bill, right? Or like case that they were trying to pursue and they had this doctored image, the Republicans would be like, absolutely the fuck not. No way, like there's no fucking way. But now- It's just that double standard drives me absolutely up the wall. We do see that. We see that in the legislature a few weeks ago on a bill on flags in classrooms. A Republican lawmaker said last year somebody from the LGBTQ community came and said that they were being harassed, and so they needed this flag at their school to have a safe space, which makes sense, right? That's what we all know the pride flag to be a symbol of. She was so mad because she had apparently asked the police officers in that district if that incident actually happened, if that person was actually being harassed, and they said no. So she was so mad that somebody from the queer community was making up harassment. What we know is that it probably just wasn't dealt with or reported in the school. But she wanted to make it very known that Any objection to this bill because of that reason was unfounded because of some false story that she believed she had gotten ahold of. And then we have, yeah, the double standard, the hypocrisy of this coming up. what what can folks do to help like combat this yeah um I I um I think when this question comes up um a very natural answer is like reach out to your lawmakers right but I want to challenge you to do something a little more um impactful potentially I want you to have conversations with your um your friends your loved ones your family about drag um and I want you to help people in your life not buy into the narratives that that folks are pushing about um drag about trans people you know um I think you know maybe one of the main problems with the bill that we have um in front of us or in front of the legislature right now is in the bill numbers, House Bill, is that it lumps in dances and gestures with things like masturbation, intercourse, unclothed genitals. So it says, this is what defines sexual conduct. And I'd say it's really eerily similar to the library censorship bill, where they put in a bunch of stuff that is like, OK, reasonably, children should not be able to access pornography in libraries. but then we're lumping in homosexual content as pornographic. We have the same thing here, right? Because they're redefining. I mean, there's already obscenity laws. You're already not supposed to do that. It's already criminal. They're just redefining what could be obscene yeah they're moving the goal books right to be like well this is what qualifies as pornographic and we've seen that already with them trying to do that with just saying that trans people are inherently pornographic right so this is just another way to Criminalized us. Yeah. Because they sexualize us. Exactly. You know, I mean, I really think it says a lot more about them than it does about us. Because most drag artists are not, it's not sexy. I mean, it really isn't. Like, I've been doing drag for seven or eight years. It's not it is a very like it's not a sexy thing. I might think I look good, but it's not sexual. And it's just like it's so it's very like life changing and life affirming and makes me feel good about myself. But it is like the furthest from sex or pornographic. And I think just like any sort of entertainment or performance, that's my experience with drag. There is drag that might be a little bit more but that's usually like in a bar and it's not in front of children, just like you don't go, you know, you don't take your seven year old to a rated R film at the movie theater, or you don't like give them the YouTube and just say, watch whatever you want. Like there's children, you know, that you can set it up for what's appropriate for children and that's, drag artists do the same thing. And I think to your point, we don't allow, people to sue the movie theater if their teenager goes to a rated r movie um whether or not the teenager had permission from the parent to go to that movie right and what's written into this bill is that you would be allowed to sue the performer the company the festival um the bar you know whatever it is if um if a minor went to or experienced a drag show, even a family-friendly drag show. And that's where we're seeing this non-sexual... expression of queer culture being sexualized and being treated way differently than things like movies or ballet or going to any other concert. I mean, they go to concerts and see Taylor Swift or Miley Cyrus or whoever. And sometimes they are wearing bikinis or body suits or whatever. And that's just performance. It's part of entertainment. It's not even like they're not sexualizing them. So why are they sexualizing people that are in drag when it's the same thing? lot of the drag performers like yeah I think that there are some that are really sexualized like but those are at a bar those are at a club where there's a bar that's even be in there yeah so it's like that is a moot point because kids aren't allowed in there but then those same performers when they perform on like the main stage at pride they change their name if their name is sexual they completely tone it down and they make it family friendly so it's not like there's this what super risque perverse thing fucking going on. And I think a lot of this is coming from misinformation. Like the things that people read on right wing blogs, shit like that. Cause even on like our social media, I see people saying these things about drag or trans people that are just so out there. Yeah. Just ludicrous. But it's like, they don't, they don't know. And they're not being exposed to the truth. They're being exposed to these conspiracy theories, all this shit. And it's like, part of me is so matched. Like, well, you guys are ridiculous. You don't understand. But there's another part of me that's like, you don't know they don't even care to know either like and I think really like people are victims of both of that kind of misinformation that you're talking about and disinformation this bill is presented as something that's going to protect minors um that is going to protect minors from things like masturbation or um uh what else to have on here intercourse unclothed genitals you know things like that um but what is being left out of that conversation is that it's lumping in drag performers that might be wearing a push-up bra or hip padding as to accentuate their secondary sexual characteristics, which is written into the language of the bill as inherently sexually indecent. Oh, yeah, because it's like the very padding that we're talking about. Yeah, so on its face, it's like, yes, we all want to protect children, from seeing seeing pornography or you know truly sexually explicit things that's where they get people on board but they're so they're making they're sexualizing things that aren't sexual yes and that's like well it's like when you and I first kind of started working together we did the drag is not a crime fashion show and that was like an all ages event and it was almost completely funded by churches like from around the community and we had over three hundred people show up which was like it was awesome I will tell you it was the most like it was so wild and it was it was almost like a pep rally once the fashion show started it was like we were doing the announcements it sounded like we were like in a wrestling like match and we're like and in this corner like it wasn't it felt that way like I was getting to do some of the announcing and it just felt like I had to, like, scream into the mic so that everyone could hear over the cheers and stuff. And it was all ages. And, you know, I met with the drag artists ahead of time. Like, hey, like, what do you care about? Make a look. And, you know, it's an all ages thing. So think about what you're going to wear or what you're not going to wear, you know, or how you're going to tell your story in a way that is age appropriate. I mean, those are the things that we do as producers and those are the things that we do as drag artists. Yeah. I find that especially and having worked with drag performers pretty much my whole time at the ACLU because I started in twenty twenty three for drag bill. And so I've been working on this for a few years now. It really like especially in the last several years, drag performers are scared here. You know, with what happened with Mona Lisa Millions, they are like you said, they change their names. If it's like maybe could be misconstrued as too sexual. I've blocked off certain photos of me. Yeah, they change some of their social medias. Some drag performers say, well, I'm not going to do family friendly shows since I also do more of a skate drag that is twenty one and up. And I don't want that to be weaponized against my community. um, drag performers are already careful. Yeah. Yeah. Especially here in Idaho. Yeah. What has been happening here since. Yeah. And how would you, how would you, or could you talk about the link to trans people? Cause I know like a lot of the times to non queer folk. Yes. Drag queens are trans people and trans people are drag queens. And I think a lot of this language is about coming for trans people just as much, I wouldn't say more, but just as much coming after trans people it is about drag performance. Yeah, because it seems like even just wearing clothes that don't match like your assigned sex. It's your sex at birth. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it just seems, and that again is one of the things that's kind of like, they're sliding in and like the very last paragraph. And so, yeah, I would love to hear about that. Yeah. I think one of my favorite testifiers this morning against the bill was a drag performer. I did not catch their name. I wish I could do a shout out, but they got up to testify and they said, what is considered offensive is a woman. I am a woman wearing pants. Is that offensive to you? And I think, So I did this part up because now I'm fumbling. But I think when we're talking about that, number one, a lot of these laws are written so vaguely that they do target trans people inadvertently. And so we need to discuss how- Do you think it's inadvertently? No. Yeah, maybe I messed up. No, I mean, maybe it is. I don't know. I think it's very clear that this specific bill is focused on performers and not trans people. And I say that because there's another bill that is focused on indecent exposure. That's more criminal liabilities and is really focused on trans people. However, I think the nuance that is missing here is two part. One, we really have to understand that drag is an expression of gender. is an expression of joy. A lot of the things that drag performers do and wear, trans people are also going to utilize to express themselves, to feel gender euphoria, and to understand themselves. Yeah, well, many trans people end up doing drag because that's the only place they can express themselves. I know for me, that was like, drag was the gateway, if you will, into me being able to transition because I was able to try on these different clothes that I was never allowed to wear and this expression that just fit me and I never wanted to get out of it and it wasn't about a performance it was just about like oh this feels good on my body and it helps me live in my body better and so I think you know to attack drag is to attract trans people yeah and I think the other piece of this is um Lawmakers and Christian nationalist lobbying groups have been working on this for several years. Laws like this are really intended to create a certain type of public discourse and to create a comfort in discriminating against people that don't fit a gender binary. And so, while this bill is specific to drag performers, it's going to have implications for trans folks. It's going to have implications for trans entertainers. I think of Boise Pride, one of the headliners last year was a trans woman. Oh, like Adora Delano? Yes. And this bill is written in a way that would allow a minor and their family to sue Boise Pride and potentially her herself just for existing on stage as a trans person. And that is scary. That really is scary because when you're introducing these civil penalties, now you've got organizers who won't even do drag. They won't have drag at all. This is too much of a liability for them because they want to follow the law because the law is written in a way that doesn't make a whole lot of sense and doesn't provide clear guidelines. So we end up with a wrap. And it pushes us back into the dark and into the corners and into the secret hiding places that Because all of this is just intended to erase us. From public. From public, yeah. And like, yeah, because you've got the websites, you've got all of these things that they're erasing us from. And now it's just, it makes it even easier to discriminate against us when we become even more of this other. It's like, we don't have these forums that we have or these stages that we used to have. And it just... is making us even smaller. Yeah. Well, and I think one of the things is, is like, I think that it's scary that these bills are being presented, but I think it's even scarier that they'll probably pass given the legislature that we have given the Republican heavy, uh, like that we have the conservative power, but also like the Democrats who won't even stand up for anything. Like there's so many people that claim to be there to support us and they're the only ones we have at the table. And they're like, I don't understand why people can't just stand up for us. Because they're already like, if you're a Democrat in that environment, you're already kind of like, they expect that of you. So why not step into that instead of just like, I don't know why they aren't doing it, but it's very frustrating. I think they're leaving a lot of their constituents behind right now. And I mean, a lot of my work is to try to pull Democrats Well, next year we need to have some drag queens and some drag kings and some drag things. And we need more trans people in legislature. Absolutely. We need more queer people. I'll try to translate the difference between a drag performer and trans person to what I would consider a fairly conservative Democrat. It's a hard job. Yeah. And so dehumanizing. Yeah. We need queer people and trans people in our legislature. It just seems like this, everything, so many of these bills that are being introduced, it feels so much just like a foot in the door, like testing. They're just like, okay, well, if we start with this, with being able to prosecute people or sue people for being on stage, just existing, well, that will make it a lot easier for us to do the same thing for them using a bathroom, like a public bathroom. You know, and I know that there's already stuff for like the government building, stuff like that. But I just feel like it's all headed in that direction because it's, you know, you start small and then you can do whatever you want. And I feel like it's very even talking now today from where we were speaking at the same space a month. Yeah, we go a month ago. Right. It's like this is unbelievable the things that we're looking at. And I think things that seemed so far-fetched and we were hoping were so far-fetched a month ago we're like oh okay well this is sure and more and a lot of this is like written out in project twenty twenty five right yeah like it's it's like the playbook is out there and we're just not responding well he's doing everything that he said he was gonna do Yeah. And I heard that he has already implemented a third of project twenty twenty five in a month. Yeah. So, yeah. Well, and I know that there's currently I believe there's three bills that kind of impact the drag community that are happening. And you mentioned one. There are a couple more coming up, Annette. Yeah, did you want to talk about those as well? Yeah, we can talk about them just a little bit. The other thing, as Pacey just mentioned, we have a bathroom bounty bill in front of us right now. And I really want to emphasize that all these bills are coming out of the House. The Senate doesn't seem to care about LGBTQ issues negatively or positively. It's not one of their legislative priorities. priorities, but there is a handful of legislators that have power in the house that keep pushing this stuff. What happens is those bills pass the house and then they get dumped onto the Senate and there's some sort of obligation from senators. them to support them. And so you're really dumping a lot of bills from one committee or two committees onto the Senate. And it's just clear that that's not what their legislative priority is. Right. Right. Right. So, as you mentioned earlier, we do have a bill right now. It's a bathroom bounty bill. I don't have the bill number on this. We've seen a couple of different iterations of it. I can maybe follow up with you all about it. But this bill really would say that in certain public entities, so universities, community colleges, domestic violence shelters, prisons, correctional facilities, if you're in a bathroom and you encounter a person that you believe is trans, you can sue the public entity. So they're not saying you see the trans person, they're saying you see the entity. So what happens is that each of these public entities has to write a policy to reasonably try to keep trans people out of bathrooms. And it's super dangerous. In a bill called SB-Eleven-hundred that did the same thing in public schools. That had a legal challenge. It's not in effect. It's not enforceable right now because there's an injunction on it. It's still being fought in the court. This bill goes one step further. So in SB-Eleven-hundred, it was required that you or the school designate a single gender bathroom with one stall to give students, if they didn't feel comfortable using the bathroom of their assigned gender at birth, an option where they could safely use the bathroom, right? has no such protections, no such measures. It says that these entities can't create single sex or single occupancy, it's not single sex, it's single occupancy restrooms, but it's not required. So if you're a trans university student or community college, you're supposed to pee. And if you're in prison. Yeah, absolutely. And here in Idaho, A lot of our prisoners who are trans are actually currently held in the wrong facility. So if you're trans women, you're typically in a trans facility. And so that's the other thing is that this bill doesn't solve much. And we have to acknowledge that trans people are at high risk for domestic violence. And they're saying that they're going to be turned away from a trans woman's going to get turned away from a women's domestic violence shelter because she can't sleep there. That's included in this bill. That's disgusting. Super harmful. yeah it's it's following suit of the first place I heard about that was in odessa yes texas and that you're able to sue the person yeah the trans person for ten thousand dollars and I think that of it is like how are you going to get like I'm like how are they going to get ten thousand dollars out of me right that's one of my thoughts but I feel like that's where this is headed and I think that this bill is them another foot in the door right and they're like okay these are the institutions in which we can enforce this and then the next one it'll be more broad and I think that it's I've been worried about this for so long like what how are they going to enforce that How are they going to enforce that? Are they going to start checking birth certificates? I've been worried that they're going to start making us wear something or some sort of identifier. Because on a large scale, how are you going to be able to enforce that? Maybe part of it might be that it might be difficult for them to prove that a trans person was. Yes. They're going to be taking photos. They're going to be filming. That means nobody's safer in the restroom. Nobody's safer in the restroom. No. Especially children. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think what this bill is really intended to do is like to deputize the common person to police bathrooms. And when we're talking about deputizing citizens against other citizens, that is so concerning. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and it's forcing a lot of these, a lot of these like public entities don't have, they don't have the wherewithal just to pay fines or pay, like to be sued for all this money. Like they're going to have to do something to stop it. as much as they want to support us and that's why they're going first they're going for the money it's like a money grab in some ways yeah well like they're hitting them where it hurts right they're like you can support as much as you want but we will bankrupt you uh and it's I mean bathrooms are already really scary like every time I go I had to switch gyms because I didn't feel safe at my other gym even though it was way better um and now when I go to the gym I work out in a hoodie the whole time which sucks it's like super hot and then when I go into the locker room like I'll put my hood up and with my headphones and I'll just go I'll just try and blend in but it's like I'm not gonna be able to do that for that much longer probably and to the point that we were having earlier about drag performers being scared um and being extra cautious I think trans people are living their reality so much more like Trans people are not going into bathrooms and making problems because they are terrified right now. I know... We were terrified before. Yes, and especially right now. I have had conversations with my trans friends about the way they behave in a bathroom to make it seem like they're supposed to be in there. And it's a lot of like, I'm natural, I'm natural, I'm natural. Or like using the stall, getting in there. In and out. changing gyms to avoid harassment. All this bill does is make people less safe in a bathroom. And trans people, yes. effects versus people yeah yeah um I got to say in a caucus meeting earlier this week the phrase bush lesbians and that's just like a small piece of joy that I'm carrying with me I think right now yeah um but I brought up the point that this bill's going to be recognized towards men with one hair which lesbians absolutely um people with alopecia well anybody that doesn't fit and we live in idaho there's a lot of bunch of little brown people out here. Exactly. You know what I mean? Like, no, that's just aunt so-and-so. Yeah, that's aunt Sue. Right? I want to tell you about this. I told you about this and I was fucking furious. My partner was at a gym with one of their friends and they're both AFAB. They were in the women's locker room and there was a cis man in there with no bottoms on just hanging out And I know that the reason he was in there was because he's making some sort of statement about like, oh, well, if a trans woman can be in there, I can be in there. And I feel like we're going to get, so like. People that are pulling stunts. Yeah. And that's disgusting. It's predatory. It's super predatory. It's predatory towards the women that are in that background. Exactly. It's especially predatory to the trans community. because there is a big difference between a trans woman in a women's bathroom and a predator. Exactly. A cis man there to be predatory. And he doesn't realize that he is just making the same point that we've been making the whole time. Like, cis men are the problem. Like, cis men are the predators in this situation. Yeah. But it's like, I don't want to think about that. And that's already illegal, by the way. Yeah. It is illegal to go into a bathroom. Yeah. and I I don't want to think about because like I get it I don't want to think about my partner going into a locker room and being you know subjected to that that freaking freaks me out but it's like I feel like there's gonna be a lot more of that kind of behavior just because these men are just like well I can do it it's like you're proving your own point but you're also putting a lot of people in harm's way because my partner's friend was really upset about it and that's meant to stoke the fire against And that's unacceptable to me because I'm sorry, if you're a dude, what the fuck do you care about the women's bathroom? Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, it was just disgusting to me. I was furious about it. But it's just going to keep happening. And I feel like it's going to be happening on a larger scale. And where I'm at now is we're well beyond the point of like, well, maybe it won't be that bad. So I'm trying to prepare myself for how to interact in situations like that when I find myself like when I find myself in a situation not if but when I do because at this point like I've already been harassed several times in public so it's kind of like harm reduction at this point yeah and that's a terrible reality to be faced with I think yeah but we have to I want my friends to be prepared yeah well and I think to your point if this bill passes if they get signed into state law you are going to be legally required to use a bathroom where people are going to come into that bathroom and be like, this person doesn't belong here. And then there's going to be a false lawsuit because you're just doing what you've been told to do. You're following the law. And who's paying the legal fees? Who's responsible for resolving that lawsuit? Who's responsible for the legal fees and the damages, the emotional damages that you're going to have to go through? Same thing with trans women. Being in a men's restroom makes them truly unsafe. Oh god, I don't even want to think about, like... What do you happen to use? You need to get a taser. It's unfortunate, but I just choose not to go places. I only go where I know I can pee. And honestly, I think that if you have trans people in your life, and especially if you're not trans, this could be a really good opportunity to say to your trans friends, like, hey, Bonnie Violet, if you're going to the bathroom, I got you. I'm going with you. If anybody harasses you, I'm saying, no, this is my friend. She's a woman. And we're getting the I love them. Because that was an issue eight years ago when there was that campaign of you can pee next to me or whatever. We need a resurgence in that. For me, cis men that are my friends that will be like, hey, I'll go with you. I've got your back. Because there's so much power in that. I feel like people, in my case, because I can only speak personally, cis men find it so much easier to target me, just me, than if I had other people. Like, they feel threatened by other cis men. And I think that it would be really great to have that kind of reinforcement because it feels just scary. But you're not alone, you know? And to that point, like, we get to a point where trans women are really being forced to use the men's restroom. I want our cis men that are allies to go in there with her. Make sure she's safe. Wait outside the stall. Make sure nobody fucks with her. I think, and especially our queer community. It needs to come around our trans community like that if that's the reality we're gonna be faced with. Sorry. No, no, do not apologize at all. I appreciate you sharing that perspective. And I think like, it's just like, I also like, I don't wanna be that girl that's pissing in a stall and has some man standing out there protecting, like, I'm just not going to go. You know what I mean? Like, I think that's the thing for me sometimes. Cause I, and that was one thing that even in my group of friends for a while, it took them, it took them a while to realize what it means for me to go out into public and need to use the restroom or not. And like, and it's just like, oh, well I'll go in with you or I'll, I'll, I'll fuck somebody up if they like, I don't want to deal with like, you know, it's like, I don't want to deal with it. Like, I appreciate that you're, you are a bad-ass ally. Yes, you are. You got my back, but I'd rather just hold you. Yeah, it's like, I don't want to go through that. I don't want to, it's like hard on, it's hard on you mentally, emotionally, you know, spiritually. And so it's just like, oh, it's just, ugh. Yeah. So many layers to it. Because I think sometimes that's, as an ally too, is just thinking about like, picking places and doing things that, you know, because there are places who have bathrooms that are different. Gender neutral bathrooms or single occupancy bathrooms. If you're inviting your friend out for coffee, take five seconds to think about where you've been before that has those bathrooms, and maybe that's where you want to invite your person. I often will ask people, like, what's the bathroom situation there? Pick up the phone and call. Yeah, there are some places that have really good, like, gender-neutral bathrooms. And I'd say that's probably a better form of allyship than like, hey, I got your back if you are going to the bathroom. Let me do all the legwork up front to make sure that wherever we're going into is going to be . Well, I'm sure there's plenty of trans girls that would be like, heck yeah, I'm going to go piss in there. You know what I mean? I'm just not there where I'm at in my transition and stuff. But yeah, one of the things I wanted to, because I feel like we're probably getting toward the end of the podcast, How can people learn more about these bills? How can they stay engaged and kind of keep up on things and maybe take some sort of action? Yeah, absolutely. I think the moment right now has never required us to be more in contact with each other. we really need to be around each other, with each other, in communication with each other and using our networks to spread information that way. To back out of that for a second, being in contact with organizations like the ACLU of Idaho, um like the queer caucus within the democratic party shout out to nixon matthews and the entire crew caucus and all the work that they're doing um being in touch with them on social media aclu of idaho has a bill tracker that you can follow you can get notifications when hearings are scheduled you can get in touch with me I have an email list that I'll send out alerts like hey this bill has a hearing here's what it says and here's the link to testify if you want to right And just also being in contact with your community-organized organizations like TransJoy Boise, like the community center, like your pride organizations. Can you talk a little bit about this? Yes. Yeah, we haven't even touched on that at all. So this is an awesome way, I think, that people can get involved with HB two thirty, which is the drag bill that we were talking about earlier. Again, to really understand this, we have to go back to twenty twenty two. So a drag performer in eastern Idaho by the name of Kelly G. Badass made these postcards in late twenty twenty two and launched a postcard campaign to support Dragon, Idaho. So they have this on the front. On the back, they have a return address. You're going to write your message to your lawmaker about why protecting drag is important, why this bill goes too far, why dancing is not sexual, right? And then you're going to put in your lawmaker's name, and you can look up on the Idaho State Legislature who your lawmaker is. And you're going to put your lawmaker in, you're going to put a stamp on it, and you're going to put it in the mail. And we have, so these are now being done by North Idaho Pride Alliance, who's worked with Callie Gee and has been working for a while to launch a campaign to help protect Dragon, Idaho. So shout out to NYPA and North Idaho Pride Alliance. You can order these postcards on their website, but you can also get in touch with them and they have funds to pay for postcard printing and send them to you. Awesome. So right now these need to go, if you're sending them, I would say within the next week, they've gotta go to your representatives. If you're sending them probably after like Sunday, they gotta go to your senators. And they could still go to your senators this week, right? But just, it's gonna be moving through the house soon. So at some point it'll get past it to where, don't have anything to do with it anymore right right yeah and we have a bunch of these yes we do so I know that we'll be able to hand out uh as many support groups oh yeah I'll stop by some cafes that I know it's like it's just because we need to get those out and I have a stack as well so you can always get in touch with me um especially if you're a drag performer um if you want to talk about this on stage if you want We can help you. That sounds good. And we'll put all that information in the show notes or the description of the video. And then also for folks who might be coming across this who aren't in Idaho, more than likely, depending on what state you're in, if you're in the United States, you might be going through a similar situation. So I'd encourage you to find out the state of drag in the legislation in your state as well. And you can kind of put your energy there. That's kind of an interesting part of living in Idaho, I have found, just because we're sort of like a testing state for all of this. Yeah. horrible shit so I feel like on socials like I'll talk to people and I'm like well it's it's headed your way too yeah you know like right now well tennessee is a city is a state that also has had to deal with a lot of the anti-drag legislation there's a I think there's maybe four states in the past yeah if y'all are hitting it for sure um anti-drug laws um Don't put me on record on saying this, but I'm pretty sure that every drug ban has been found unconstitutional and has been blocked by a court, even in states like Tennessee and Oklahoma. Yeah, most of it's just a waste of time and fear. It's a waste of money. Yeah. So yeah, I think to your point, if you're outside Idaho and you're worried about this stuff potentially coming to your state, connect with your local, your state ACLU chapter. I think I'd start planning for it. Exactly. Start planning for it because I would say like I would bet on just to be safe, bet on it coming to you. Bet on it going to your area and be prepared for it so that way you'll already have things in place on how to fight it properly and you'll have at least a better chance at stop maybe fighting it. And not just red states. There are Republicans in blue states that introduced this stuff. And the only difference between that and a state like Idaho is that they have strong guns to oppose it. Yeah, we don't have the numbers to oppose it, but This bill will get brought up even in blue states, and that's a good opportunity to get involved in the fight and involved in the advocacy around it, even if it's not going to pass, because that's the point of advocacy is to try to shut this stuff down, you know? That's a good point. Did you have any other message you'd like to give to folks who might come across this video? Drag is joy. Drag is love. Drag is human expression. And I have been so, so lucky to be in the company of drag performers and to witness people's confidence bloom on stage and to witness the culture of drag in our queer community. And I think it's something really special. We know that drag is always going to exist. We know that drag performances will still happen. The law might change how and when they happen, but I believe in the resiliency of the queer community, and I believe in drag as an avenue for joy. Yeah. Will definitely still happen. And thank you so much for being with us today, and thank you for being such a strong advocate and ally for our communities. Because you're everywhere. Every time there's something going on, you can count on Jenna being there fighting, which is... so nice right now because I feel like so many people are almost, it's too much for a lot of people. So it's nice to see that representation. Well, I think the work that you're doing is great, but I also think what's even more powerful is how you do the work that you do. I've never felt more supported by a non-trans person than with you. Thank you. That's not a common experience within even members of our own LGBTQ community. So I just want to honor that. And I've learned so much from you in being able to be I've just learned so much, and I really appreciate you. To be in relation with each other, right? I've learned so much from the two of you. My confidence in organizing has grown so much just from working with you and being around you. And, you know, I don't always get it right. But I carry deep in my heart a mantra. And that mantra is, don't fuck with my trans homies. Like, we have to stop this. Yeah. If I can be an example for how other cisgender folks can be outspoken or how they can do the work to understand trans people, I would be so lucky. Because I'm just lucky to have trans people in my life that I have. about themselves and taught me about queer culture. You know, like I came out seven years ago, but I was twenty six. I had tons to learn in adulthood about queer culture. And it's been drag queens. It's been trans community. It's been butch lesbians who have taught me those things and have brought joy into my life. And I wish that that everybody would take just a little bit of time to try to understand a gender perspective that's different than theirs, you know? Because when you understand it, you really can be a powerful ally. Yeah, that quote, don't fuck with my trans homies. Don't fuck with my trans homies. That's like a protest poster, that's a t-shirt, that's a sticker, that's a patch. Yeah, I love it. I carry it so deeply. And, you know, I'm, like, literally sometimes I'm, like, with my backpack in the statehouse. You know, I have a hearing where I'm just, like, fucking angry. Yeah, oh, I can't even imagine. I'm, like, marching out of the building. It's just so nice to have someone who, when we are talking about something, anything, you'll just always say, well, how can we help? Yeah. And that's... really valuable yeah it helps and it's so empowering just to you know kind of validate what we're trying to do you know and I mean it I ask that question because I don't always believe that we'll be able to help but I value your perspective on how we could help or how other people could step up and help so I want to know the true answer to that you know because I value it and I mean it even if um even if we can't help you know like what would help in this moment okay well let's try and figure out a way to do that right right awesome well thanks yeah thank you so much and thanks everyone who joined us today or tonight or whenever you're listening or watching us and we'll check out in the next episode yeah sounds good all right bye thank you all that was such a good conversation that was fantastic I learned so much and I know everyone because I know that there are so