For decades, drag has been a vibrant part of Ohio’s cultural landscape, evolving from niche entertainment to a mainstream art form celebrated by millions. However, the drag community now faces an unprecedented challenge as they confront legislation that could redefine the boundaries of public performance and personal expression.
At the heart of this struggle is House Bill 249, the “Indecent Exposure Modernization Act,” which passed the Ohio House in March and is currently under consideration in the Senate. While supporters argue that the bill strengthens indecency laws and protects children, critics contend that it imposes broad restrictions that could impact drag performers, venues, and transgender Ohioans.
Drag Performers Speak Out Against the Bill
Nina West, a prominent drag entertainer from Columbus, has spent years building Ohio’s drag community. Now, she finds herself defending the legitimacy of drag itself. “It’s really incredibly dehumanizing,” West told The Advocate, “to hear these people talk about and try to legislate and put parameters on the thing that I do for a living.”
The concern extends beyond drag performers. Opponents of the legislation argue that by tying “adult cabaret” restrictions to expressions of gender identity, the bill risks creating confusion about who can safely exist in public spaces. Several performers expressed fears that transgender and gender-nonconforming Ohioans could face increased scrutiny, harassment, or accusations simply for how they dress or present themselves.
The Human Impact of the Legislation
For Carmen Berry, a Black Transgender Woman and drag artist, the fear starts before she even leaves home. “I have to wake up and give myself the full protection of armor every time I walk out of the house,” Berry said. Anisa Love, the reigning Miss Gay Ohio, described a climate of anxiety among performers and transgender residents. “The feeling across the state is one of fear,” Love stated.
Virginia West, a Columbus drag veteran, sees the bill as a cover-up aimed at attacking trans people. “I think it’s a cover-up,” Virginia West said. “I think they’re really trying to just attack trans people.”
The Ohio That Drag Built
The drag community in Ohio is a diverse and inclusive collective that includes straight allies, transgender performers, and artists of color. Virginia West’s drag family has been a staple of Columbus nightlife for nearly three decades, selling out theaters and engaging audiences far beyond the LGBTQ+ community.
Anisa Love has used drag as a vehicle for community organizing and advocacy, traveling throughout the state to meet performers and LGBTQ+ residents. Berry, who works professionally in LGBTQ+ advocacy, emphasized the humanity of the people most affected by the bill. “We’re educators, we’re doctors, we’re lawyers, we’re advocates, we’re writers, we’re creatives,” Berry said. “We are humans just like you are humans.”
Misconceptions About Drag
Bryanna Nagy, who performs as Lady B. Davenport, is a cisgender woman, challenging one of the central premises underlying many anti-drag proposals. Critics often describe drag as men dressing as women, but performers say the art form is far more encompassing. “It’s not just one thing,” Nagy said.
Nagy discovered drag through RuPaul‘s Drag Race and performer Kennedy Davenport, realizing there was a place for people like herself in the art form. She describes drag as a form of creative expression—an exaggerated, theatrical version of one’s personality. “That’s what drag really is at the base of it,” she said. “It’s just a bigger version of yourself.”
From Acceptance to Backlash
The timing of the proposed drag ban feels especially jarring to performers who have watched drag become mainstream. Nina West remembers touring internationally after Drag Race and realizing how dramatically perceptions of drag had changed. Virginia West saw the same transformation closer to home, with audiences at District West extending far beyond the LGBTQ+ community.
Despite the popularity of drag, the backlash has become impossible to ignore. Love recalled testifying against HB 249 before lawmakers and facing what she viewed as hostility and ridicule. Berry worries about the impact of legislation and rhetoric combining. “It is hurtful to wake up and hear that you’re a disgusting pedophile,” she said.
Nina West increasingly finds herself speaking not just about drag but about transgender rights. “I think one of the messaging points that are really important for me as a cis gay male,” he said, “is to go out and to stand on these front lines.”
Weighing What’s at Stake
During debate over HB 249, one Ohio lawmaker suggested that people unhappy with the state’s direction could simply leave. The remark struck a nerve among performers, crystallizing something they had already been wrestling with privately. Berry said that if the bill clears the Senate and is signed into law, she would have to seriously consider leaving the state for her own safety.
Love, who has no plans to leave Ohio, said that the prospect of the bill becoming law would mean major changes to her work as Miss Gay Ohio. Virginia West intends to keep performing in drag in public, even at the risk of arrest, viewing litigation as one of the few tools left to challenge the law. Nina West, for his part, has chosen to stay and fight. “I still live in Ohio because I love this place,” he said. “I don’t have to live here, but I still live here because I love this place.”
