Following a U.S. federal appeals court ruling that reinstated Texas’s drag ban, nonbinary drag activist Brigitte Bandit took to Instagram on Monday with a powerful message: drag is not dead — and still needs your support.
“Please be aware that this ‘drag ban’ only applies to certain types of performances where minors can be present. drag storytimes are still legal. drag shows are still legal. book and support your local drag. we need it now more than ever,” they wrote.
Bandit’s post struck a chord online, with many thanking the performer for providing clarity and continuing to speak out.
“Prohibiting performances in any capacity is such a slippery slope to banning anything vaguely uncomfortable for ppl,” one user commented. “It goes hand in hand with the book bans, and the mandate to put the 10 commandments in classrooms. The rules just don’t apply for these politicians and it needs to stop.”
Another added: “Appreciate the clarity. Art is art is art. This is still an attack/control on artistic expression and rooted in misogyny, homophobia and transphobia. Such a fascist f**king state.”
A third simply wrote: “Thank you for using your voice.”
Earlier in the week, the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a 2023 district court decision that had permanently blocked Texas’s sweeping and ambiguous drag ban, which had been struck down on First Amendment grounds.
Texas Senate Bill 12, signed into law in June 2023 by Governor Greg Abbott (R), was meant to criminalise “sexually oriented performances” in public spaces or where minors might be present. While the law doesn’t explicitly name drag, the intent was apparent both in public discourse and in the original draft of the bill.
That early draft directly defined “sexual conduct” to include performers “exhibiting as” the opposite sex, citing clothing, makeup, and physical markers — a clause broad enough to encompass everything from drag shows to Tom Holland’s Lip Sync Battle performance. The clause was later removed, but the revised bill still targets performances featuring “sexual gesticulations using accessories or prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics” — clearly aimed at items like breast plates and packers common in drag.
That context fuels Bandit’s point: while much of what drag artists do is still legal, laws like this create confusion, reinforce stigma, and open the door to further restrictions.
Bandit has long been a vocal critic of the legislation. They spoke multiple times before the Texas legislature in 2023 as the bill was being debated.
In one widely shared testimony, they appeared before the Senate Committee on State Affairs, challenging the bill as discriminatory.
“Why should I be able to continue the same kind of events with similar content and costumes but not my male counterparts?” they asked.
They also pointed out that laws already exist to restrict minors from adult-themed performances in appropriate venues, arguing that the bill wrongfully targets gender identity and not actual content.
“Drag is simply a form of art, and like any form of art, it can be produced by many different kinds of people and be modified for different kinds of audiences,” they said.
In another impassioned moment, Bandit appeared at a hearing wearing a dress adorned with the names of victims of the Uvalde and Allen mass shootings — driving home the message that the real danger to children in Texas isn’t drag, but gun violence. After going just 15 seconds over their time limit, security escorted them out.
