Three drag-queen performers will meet with lawmakers on Tuesday to lobby for the Equality Act and the “Transgender Bill of Rights.”
The drag performers known as Jiggly Caliente, Joey Jay, and Brigitte Bandit are scheduled to appear on Capitol Hill for “Drag Lobby Day,” an initiative organized by the progressive advocacy group MoveOn.
“With more than 500 anti-gay and anti-trans laws introduced at the state and federal level this year, MoveOn members and partners are demanding action be taken to address right-wing bigotry and to protect the LGBTQ+ community,” the organization said in a press release.
The performers will meet with lawmakers, including “lawmakers of vulnerable, battleground Republican districts — especially those with a high population of LGBTQ+ residents,” Britt Jacovich, MoveOn’s press secretary, told The Hill. A rally is scheduled to occur after the meetings.
The “Transgender Bill of Rights” would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity in public accommodations and federally funded programs and activities. If passed, the resolution would further ensure that health-care providers “following standards of care” could not be targeted for criminal or civil penalties for gender-related medical treatments, and guarantee a student’s ability to use facilities and participate on sports teams aligned with preferred gender identity.
“Policies concerning transgender rights must be led and informed by transgender communities, in particular Black and indigenous women who face heightened risk of violence, poverty, discrimination, and other harm due to their intersecting identities,” reads a subsection of the “Transgender Bill of Rights” that was introduced in the House of Representatives in June, 2022.
The Advocate, an LGBTQ-focused publication, reported that Texas Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett is expected to appear at the rally in Washington, D.C.
“The demonization of drag performers and hatred spewed by some of my Republican colleagues is both incredibly harmful to the performers themselves, as well as to any LGBTQIA person who expresses and presents themselves outside of the set of strict gender norms imposed by conservative politicians in Washington,” Crockett said.
Two of the drag performers, Caliente and Jay, previously competed on the television series RuPaul’s Drag Race.
“Drag was the awakening for my transness,” said the Filipino-American peformer Jiggly Caliente in a 2024 interview. In addition to performing drag, Caliente is a singer and released the album “T.H.O.T. Process” in 2018.
Performer Brigitte Bandit delivered a speech while wearing drag attire at the Texas Democrats Convention earlier in June.
“[D]espite the attacks from the far right, I am so proud of myself,” Bandit wrote on social media after delivering the speech. “[Q]ueer Texans deserve visibility and celebration. [W]e shouldn’t have to hide or be hidden.”