Tennessee City Seeks To Ban Drag Show As 'Adult Cabaret'

PORTLAND, Tenn.—As you may have noticed, there are certain groups that have a little problem with humans who have a penis and also wear dresses. Usually, their vitriol is reserved for transgendered folks, but it has been known also to encompass men who dress in drag—like the performers at the Envy Restaurant Bar & Grill on Main Street in Portland, a city of about 12,000 that sits on Interstate 65 right on the state's border with Kentucky. The show that sparked the controversy was staged on August 12 by Elite Productions, which rented Envy for the evening from its owner, Vee Truong. According to Raymond Guillermo, who performs in drag as "Jessica Monroe," performers wore dresses, wigs and makeup, and lip synced to popular songs—at that time, to a packed house. “That’s all we do. We don't know what the fuss is about,” Guillermo said. Apparently, Portland Mayor Kenneth Wilber does. “We received several phone calls from concerned citizens about wanting this in our community or not wanting this in our community,” Wilber said. Even though no clothes are removed on stage, the Board of Aldermen, the city's governing body, on September 5 introduced amendments to the city's Adult Oriented Businesses ordinance to add the category of "adult cabaret," which is defined as, "Activities in commercial establishments which feature adult entertainment that may be erotic [in] nature; including exotic dancers, table dancers, private dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators, or similar entertainers." With the new cabaret definition added, the proposed ordinance, No. 17-59, also redefines where adult businesses can exist in the city: "No adult bookstore, adult motion picture theater, adult mini-motion picture theater, adult entertainment center, massage parlor, sauna, or adult cabaret shall be operated or maintained within one thousand (1,000) feet of a residentially zoned district, or within five hundred (500) feet of a church, state licenses day care facility, public library, public or private educational facility that serves persons having an age of seventeen (17) or younger, elementary school, middle school, high school, or municipal park. Only one of the above regulated uses shall be allowed per block face. As used in this section, 'block face' shall contain a maximum of five hundred (500) linear feet of road frontage. The distance limitations shall be measured in a straight line from the lot lines of the land containing regulated uses to the lot lines of properties described." The ordinance is scheduled for a second reading (and likely passage) tonight, September 18, and a protest against it was scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time today, though at press time, it was not known if the protest actually took place, or how many people showed up if it did. "It's plain; it's discrimination," Guillermo said. "They're saying who can and who cannot perform in their town, and it's not right. ... According to the ordinance that I looked at, there would be no possible way to perform in Portland. There are churches, schools, residential areas everywhere. This is just their way of getting us out of Portland." "I respect every church there is," Truong added. "I respect everybody's religion but when it comes to discrimination I got to stop that. ... I know I put my business at risk for doing it, but it's humans rights that I'm fighting for. It's just wrong. ... [F]or me, I think we all human trying to make a living. They didn't force anybody to come to watch the show." Not everyone felt that way, however. "No, I don't think they should allow [it] because it's not something, in my heart, it's not honoring to God," Portland resident Quintin Wilson told Fox17 News. According to Guillermo, who co-owns Elite Productions with his brother Kyle, "I didn't think just wanting to put on a drag show would cause such a big deal out in a small town. The reason why we went to Portland is because we had people from the city saying, 'Hey, you guys are from Portland; when are you guys going to bring the show to us?'" At least a couple of civil rights groups have weighed in to support Elite and Envy. Attorney Kevin Teets Jr., representing the Tennessee Equality Project, wrote a letter to the mayor and aldermen noting, "Additionally, let me state that while I appreciate members of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen [sic] attempting to distinguish between the drag performances that they know all about, the one in the city that takes place at the high school as part of the womanless beauty pageant that's done to raise money, they did not exactly [identify] what it is that makes that drag show distinguishable from the drag show that my clients participate in once a month at Envy Restaurant and Bar." The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee took particular issue with one statement in the proposed ordinance, which reads, "WHEREAS, it is not the intent of the city to suppress any speech activities protected by the First Amendment, but to enact a content neutral ordinance which addresses the secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses..." "Artistic expression is not sexual or erotic in nature simply because it involves male or female impersonators and, therefore, it cannot be regulated like 'adult-oriented businesses,'" the ACLU branch's legal director, Thomas H. Castelli, responded in a letter to the mayor and aldermen, later adding, "The First Amendment protects freedom of speech and expression, no matter what you are wearing. It's discriminatory and unconstitutional to single out male and female impersonators in a bid to shut down their speech. If members of the city council are uncomfortable with the drag show, they do not need to attend the performance. But they can't ban it." Indeed, they may not legally be able to do so, but we'll know later this evening if the aldermen succeed in trying. Pictured: Raymond Guillermo as Jessica Monroe.