Do drag brunches have a future in Tennessee?
, three queer-owned cafes have been forced to close temporarily after receiving hateful and threatening letters.
Scott and Montgomery both plan to keep up business as usual. “I’m just going to keep doing what I do every day and have done for almost 15 years now. Be that safe space that people can come and be who they are,” says Montgomery. “As long as you’re nice, you’re welcome.” But for others, the cultural panic around drag is taking its toll.in Cookeville, Tennessee, six years ago, and says drag events like brunch, bingo, and trivia are the vast majority of what she does.
The hostile atmosphere had already had an effect on business. Mccown-Williams says she’s spent more money on security systems, and marketing to remind everyone her bar is 18-plus so no one got the wrong idea. And though her drag events were always immensely popular, the stress began to affect her. “Just as a business owner at this point ... once all this started happening, it just made the path a little bit easier for me to see, which is sad,” she says.
No legislation can keep people from being queer, but these are the bill’s intended effects: make people reconsider their business plans, worry for their safety, and calculate whether participating in queer life is worth it. Mccowen-Williams hopes that this legislation is a wake-up call for anyone who has ever enjoyed a drag brunch.
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