When you list the top few hundred million complaints you have about public officials, I’m guessing the notion that they’re dragging their heels on the issue of men in high heels wouldn’t make the list. But in the latest iteration of the culture wars, it turns out that drag shows are a societal scourge overdue for a dressing down. Tennessee is poised to become first state to restrict drag performances. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee who is set to sign into law the bill that will limit ‘adult cabaret performances’ on public property (because god knows we’re all tired of walking into City Hall only to see a drag show break out) ignored questions about the time he dressed in drag, “What a ridiculous, ridiculous question that is, conflating something like that to sexualized entertainment in front of children, which is a very serious subject.” Meanwhile, Rep. Nate Schatzline who authored a Texas bill restricting drag performances wants to make it clear that the video of him “skipping, running and dancing in a park while donning a black sequined dress and a red eye mask” doesn’t count because it was a joke. This whole issue is a joke, but that’s not stopping several other states, including Idaho, North Dakota, Montana, Kentucky, and Oklahoma, from entering the drag race to enact similar bans. Wearing a dress is under attack but impersonating a clown is all the rage.

+ AP: As Tennessee, others target drag shows, many wonder: Why? “The protestations have arisen fairly suddenly around a form of entertainment that has long had a place on the mainstream American stage. Milton Berle, ‘Mr. Television’ himself, was appearing in drag on the public airwaves as early as the 1950s.” And on the 40th anniversary of the MASH finale that drew a cool 106 million viewers, let’s not forget the cross-dressing corporal Klinger. A whole generation of children was exposed to his dresses, and somehow we survived.