History Repeats - The Criminalization of Gender Nonconformity

Note on language - I debated whether to use the term “gender nonconformity” as I am aware it can be perceived to be derogatory. I use it here in the context of the current wave of legislation that attempts to reinforce a gender binary that I believe is arbitrary and limiting, with recognition of the culturally imposed outsider status of persons whose identities defy the idea of a gender binary. As a long-time self-identified non-conformist on many fronts I use the term as a badge of pride and defiance against the idea of conformity more generally as being a desirable thing.

Originally written and Published in the Betty Pages April 2023

Last fall when I started thinking of ideas for columns for the Betty Pages, I was excited to write interesting stories about early drag performers here in our corner of the world. However writing about these stories has taken on a weightier context as a wave of anti-drag hysteria has escalated across the country, and bills designed to restrict and prohibit drag performances work their way through state legislatures.

As I try to make sense of the current state of affairs, I have been reminding myself that history is not a linear march of progress and shifts in attitudes vary over time and across cultures. This is not the first cultural backlash on the merry-go-round of history, and knowing that this has happened before and having the information of how it all went down offers hope as well as ideas for how to face it this time around.

I want to emphasize that in turn of the century Bellingham during the golden era of vaudeville, “Impersonation Acts” were regularly featured in theaters offering all-ages family friendly “polite vaudeville” entertainment.

In January I wrote about Joseph Noel, the impersonator at the notorious Casino Theater, the earliest known “female impersonator” on Bellingham Bay. The Casino was a wild-west “variety” theater typical of the 1890s, catering to the population at the time that was largely male and transient.

Around the turn of the century demographics “out west” were changing rapidly. The arrival of railroads brought families and their values from the east, creating a wider consumer market for theater proprietors. Sanitized “family” shows were increasingly more profitable. Theaters began to advertise “Polite Vaudeville” to distinguish themselves from the earlier variety shows. As they began forbidding adult-themed “blue material,” performers modified their acts accordingly.

Theaters in Bellingham in the early 1900s such as Beck’s, the Grand and the Pantages catered to all-age audiences. “Impersonation” acts of all types, including gender impersonation, were a standard feature on their vaudeville bills.

By and large the popular press treated impersonation acts the same as any other vaudeville act in their reviews. The ability to “impersonate” gender in the name of performance was celebrated widely in the press. That it was also considered appropriate for children is evidenced by the theaters that booked them and the spectators who came in droves to watch. There were then, as there are now, people who took offense at such acts, and people who thought that all theater was the devil’s playground. There were also people who thought it harmless entertainment and people who loved it and who had their lives changed by seeing it.

I want to reiterate that the theater was a place of potential freedom of expression that a person could be arrested for on the streets. At the time of incorporation of the town of Bellingham in 1903, a city ordinance criminalized appearing publicly “in a dress not belonging to his or her sex” along with “offenses against public morals and decency.”

When offstage, gender impersonators often went to great lengths to “perform” the gender they had been assigned-at-birth, both to make the ‘transformation’ seem more impressive, and to reassure the public that it was all just an act. But who is to say which was the act? In the words of drag superstar Rupaul, “We’re all born naked and the rest is drag.”

Anti-cross dressing legislation has over 100 years of precedence across the country. Most of those laws were very broad in scope, and in practice used at the whim of law-enforcement, often against individuals caught trying to ‘pass’ publically. In the context of theatrical performance these laws were almost never enforced, at least until the late 1920s.

The financial uncertainty of the great depression both contributed to the downfall of vaudeville, and fueled a cultural backlash against what was seen as the “excesses” of the previous decades. Gender impersonators found themselves running out of performance opportunities, and facing increasing threats of persecution under the old laws they had some immunity from in the past. Thus began decades of intolerance that would result in the Stonewall Riots.

The bill passed recently in Tennessee uses language that specifically recalls the performers of yesteryear with the terms “male or female impersonators.” According to the bill, these performers now fall under “adult cabaret” regulations and are thus subject to similar restrictions as “exotic dance” which typically involve nudity, not a feature of most drag shows. Not that you all need reminding, but to be clear - like any performance, drag shows can contain profane language or explicitly sexual content, but also like any performance it is tailored to the expected audience, just like it was on the stages of “Polite Vaudeville” theaters.

The party of “freedom” and less-government now wants the state to define gender-identities. The current anti-drag legislation is both a distraction technique and projection on the part of pearl-clutching Christian Nationalists, who would do well to examine their own ranks for “groomers” and “predators” if they are so concerned about “the children.”

Current legislation like in Tennessee is specifically targeting performers, though it will undoubtedly be used broadly and capriciously against anyone seen as a threat to the patriarchy.

The patriarchy, defined as a sociopolitical and cultural system that values masculinity over femininity and perpetuates oppressive and limiting gender roles, clearly isn’t going down without a fight, as demonstrated by increasing atttacks on LGBTQ rights and educational gag-orders restricting teaching “inclusive history by those wanting to keep power from specific others.

The current wave of legislation is clearly part of the anti-trans hysteria sweeping the country. States should not be in the business of regulating gender identities. Recognizing people’s gender identities does not require governments to acknowledge any new or special rights; instead, it is a commitment to the core idea that the state will not decide for people who they are. Trans rights are human rights. Everyone has the right to express their gender identity however they see fit.

I know I am preaching to the Betty Pages choir here. Next month I will continue to tell the stories of those who came before, including the story of the legendary Julian Eltinge’s appearance in Bellingham and Bellingham’s own “boy impersonator.” I hope that some of the stories I share will offer inspiration and hope in the continued fight for human rights for all.

“Drag” performance and so-called cross dressing in its various forms has been around for a long time and has had its moments of celebration and tolerance as well as periods of backlash and repression. Impersonator acts were a staple of the vaudeville scene during its heyday through the roaring 1920s. The cultural backlash in the decades that followed created the closets that queer folks would effectively be shoved into for the next several decades. We won’t be pushed back in again.

For further reading:

Human Rights Campaign. Trans Justice Initiative. https://www.hrc.org/resources/trans-justice-initiative

López Restrepo, Manuela. The anti-drag bills sweeping the U.S. are straight from history's playbook. Main Character of the Day Special Series. NPR. 2023. https://www.npr.org/2023/03/06/1161452175/anti-drag-show-bill-tennessee-trans-rights-minor-care-anti-lgbtq-laws

Sears, Clare. Arresting Dress: Cross-Dressing, Law and Fascination in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco. Duke University Press. 2015. https://www.dukeupress.edu/arresting-dress

Senelick, Laurence. The Changing Room: Sex, Drag and Theatre. Routledge. 2000. https://www.routledge.com/The-Changing-Room-Sex-Drag-and-Theatre/Senelick/p/book/9780415159869

Trav S.D. No Applause - Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous. Faber and Faber. 2005. https://www.amazon.com/No-Applause-Just-Throw-Money-Vaudeville/dp/0865479585/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267745233&sr=8-1 (See also: https://travsd.wordpress.com).

The United Nations Foundation. Transgender Rights are Human Rights. https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/transgender-rights-are-human-rights/

You can help support the Betty Pages by subscribing on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/TheBettyPages