U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene received flack on Wednesday after she shared interview footage of an Austin-based drag performer declaring women and children need to be protected from “men pretending to be women.” The problem— the performer, Bridgette Bandit, was born a woman.
Bandit, who often performs as Dolly Parton, was featured on CNN on Tuesday morning for her activism efforts in Washington D.C., where she spent the day lobbying both Democrat and Republican lawmakers for better protections for drag artists. She was joined by other drag artists, including RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni Jiggly Caliente and Joey Jay, for a “Drag Lobby Day” to lobby for the Equality Act and the Transgender Bill of Rights.
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In a video interview with Bandit about the Drag Lobby Day, CNN’s Sara Sinder showed a clip of former President Donald Trump last week at a campaign event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he stated that if elected, he will sign an executive order to cut funding of “any school pushing critical race theory, transgenders…on the lives of our children,” also discussing “transgender insanity.”
Bandit responded with how she doesn’t already feel safe in drag in her hometown of Austin, and how “scary it is” to see this rhetoric from Trump and other lawmakers. Greene posted the video on X, formerly known as Twitter, and commented with her disdain.
“No, what’s scary is men pretending to be women reading gender cult lying books to our children, provocatively dancing nearly nude in public spaces, and taking over our bathrooms, sports, and private spaces,” she said. “Women and children need protection from them.”
Bandit slammed back, sharing with the Georgia representative that she was, in fact, born a woman.
“You are just proving that gender is socially constructed and have no idea what you’re talking about and why you should have no say in our lives,” she said.
The post has taken off, with over 4million views, and Greene’s X post is now accompanied with s context note: “The person in the clip, Brigitte, is a woman and was born female. Calling her a man is factually incorrect,” accompanied by a Texas Monthly article that heavily featured Bandit.
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“I saw that tweet that she posted when I was about to fly out of D.C. and I knew this was something I needed to address because I had just spoken to CNN about how lawmakers use misinformation to push anti-LGBTQ ideas,” Bandit tells TIME. “Whenever I have an opportunity, I try to call people out on it.”
Bandit did not anticipate that the tweet would take off like it has, but when she landed back in Austin, she opened her phone to a rainstorm of comments. Some are thanking Bandit for her tweet, and some are making fun of Greene, and recalling her recent headlines in Congress.
Bandit has been a drag activist for multiple years. In August 2023, she testified in front of U.S. District Judge David Hittner against Texas Senate Bill 12, which attempted to limit performances including drag. Hittner eventually found that Senate Bill 12 “impermissibly infringes on the First Amendment and chills free speech.”
Bandit says that Greene’s comment only displays the ignorance of lawmakers who want to restrict drag.
“I think that this goes to show how Republicans are using queer people as scapegoats,” she said.“If Marjorie Taylor Greene actually cared about women’s issues she would stop talking about drag queens and start talking about the real issues,” she said.
Greene has not responded to TIME’s request for comment on the incident.
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