When the music starts, a drag queen wearing a white jumpsuit and a long, white wig steps out onto the stage at Tennessee Tech University. Her makeup is the neon pink approximation of a fawn.
It’s Lucid Dreams’ first time doing drag, and she’s not the only one. The event is called Drag 101, where first time drag performers are sharing the stage with veterans.
Backstage, Lucid Dreams recounts a runway mishap.
“Well, I didn’t move, and then I tripped down the stairs,” she says.
Long-time drag queen Salem LeStrange reassures her: “It happens. It happens … your best move is to laugh it off.”
Marianna Bacallao WPLN NewsDrag queen Salem LeStrange performs multiple parts in a lip sync to “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Disney’s Encanto.
This is a rare moment of joy for the Tennessee Tech students putting on the show. The university’s drag scene took a hit this fall after conservative politicians began circulating a video, critiquing a drag performance set to Hozier’s “Take Me to Church.”
In response, university President Phil Oldham issued a statement saying he is “offended by … mockery toward any religious group.” Oldham cancelled all drag shows on-campus, pending a review.
Student organizers spoke with the president after he issued that statement. In a recording of the meeting obtained by WPLN News, Lambda Treasurer Cadence Miller says the performance should’ve been covered under the university’s free speech policy.
“There was no mockery. There’s a difference between a commentary on corruption in the Catholic Church versus mockery, so that’s just not true,” Miler says. “You specifically saying ‘I am offended’ about this shows that you, as president, are not supportive of us having those kinds of conversations.”
Miller then asks Oldham if he would take the statement down.
“No,” Oldham says. “Because I stand by the statement.”
Drag is now back at Tennessee Tech, but Lambda and other student organizations are limited in how often they can partner with outside groups to host live events. In a statement, the university says that, under its new policy, “no type of performance art is singled out or treated differently.”
A drag show draws hostile groups
There’s a greater threat to Cookeville’s queer community off campus. Earlier this year, neo-Nazis protested a drag show at a local bar. They were joined by local church leaders and several right-wing hate groups.
Upper Cumberland Pride organized the Jan. 22 drag show. Members who were there that day say police did not intervene when the Nazi flag was unrolled across from their event.
“As a queer person in this community, it’s frightening to know that I was literally 10 feet away from a Nazi that had a gun,” says UC Pride’s president. WPLN agreed not to use their name due to concerns for their safety.
“It was at that moment that I was first afraid. Because they outnumber us in the building, and their AK-47s were just wrapped around their shoulder,” says Matthew Melton, a member of UC Pride. “Without any type of police representation or city capacity in protecting us, we felt terrified.”
Joshua Lancaster was one of few people there who was willing to go on record with WPLN. He says his information was already leaked last year, so he felt comfortable going out and documenting the protest.
“I just decided that in that moment, when I was standing there filming it, that I was done being scared,” Lancaster says. “It was just upsetting on so many levels, and it was time to just put a spin on it … They make fun of us, so why not make fun of them?”
The LGBTQ community was not the only target of the hate groups assembled in Cookeville. Some protestors began their march at one of the town’s only Black churches.
One of its congregants, the president of Cookeville’s NAACP, put out a statement denouncing local churches who protested the drag performance. The statement read: “Those of you from the body of Christ and from local churches who had the gall to stand in the presence of or even near to those neo-Nazis, white nationalists, and Proud Boys concern me. You have slandered your faith in God’s command to love thy neighbor as thy self.”
Law enforcement’s response
Those who attended the drag show on Jan. 22 say that police officers pulled over several of their cars as they left that morning.
“Instead of actually following the ones with the guns home, they were following us home,” UC Pride’s President says.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office put out a press release after the event, blaming the drag show for bringing “unwelcome guests” into Cookeville. The release also announced that the venue of the drag show, Hix Brewery, had been issued a citation for serving alcohol to an underage, undercover officer.
The sheriff and the owner of the building are now in the process of evicting Hix Brewery.
“It’s unheard of. It’s absolutely unheard of,” says Brie, a regular at Hix and a service industry veteran, who asked WPLN not to use their last name.
Bars receive citations like this all the time, says Brie, and they rarely result in eviction.
“The bar is typically fined. If the bar has repeated infractions, they might be shut down for a period of time,” Brie says. “But to be evicted, to be forced out of their residence is absolutely unheard of. And it does feel like persecution.”
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and Cookeville Police Department did not return repeated requests by WPLN for comment.
The LGBTQ community here says losing Hix would mean losing one of the few accepting spaces for queer adults in Cookeville. But it’s not just the loss of Hix that worries them, it’s the fear that something like this could happen again.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of Joshua Lancaster.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM