Female drag queen owns Marjorie Taylor Greene after politician called her a man: 'No idea what you're talking about'
"We must stop targeting drag performers," Brigitte Bandit tells EW after tweeting to Greene that she was "born female and not a man."
Drag artist, activist, and frequent performer of Dolly Parton numbers Brigitte Bandit hit back at controversial politician Marjorie Taylor Greene, after the conservative Republican congresswoman called the entertainer — who was born female — a man.
After Brigitte recently appeared on CNN to discuss meeting with both major political parties about legislative attacks on LGBTQIA+ community members in America (including Donald Trump's vow to cut funding to schools "pushing" what he called "transgender insanity" if elected), Greene criticized the Austin, Texas-based queen on social media. In her response to Brigitte's interview, Greene suggested that the drag artist was a man "pretending" to be a woman while enshrined in a "gender cult."
In a quote-tweet Wednesday morning on X (formerly Twitter), Brigitte didn't hold back when she clarified things for Greene.
"Hi Marjorie! I’m Brigitte and I’m the queen in the clip. I’m born female and not a man. 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," Brigitte wrote, with the post going viral shortly thereafter.
When reached for comment, Brigitte confirms to Entertainment Weekly that she was born — and is comfortable identifying as — female, but that, most accurately, she is a non-binary queen.
"I would like to add that while MTG and other Republicans continue to vilify drag performers with lies and blatant misinformation like this tweet, real issues effecting our American women and children go ignored," Brigitte tells EW via email.
"I have never been accused of being a threat until I put on a wig and a little extra makeup," the performer added. "We must stop targeting drag performers and start targeting the real issues if we really want to protect women and children. Queer people must stop being used as scapegoats for the issues they choose to allow to persist and even amplify with their rhetoric."
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Brigitte Bandit; Marjorie Taylor GreeneBrigitte's remarks about Greene come amid a wave of anti-LGBTQIA+ laws, both proposed and enacted, that's swept the country in recent years — particularly in Texas, Tennessee, and Missouri, where The Boulet Brothers' Dragula star Maxi Glamour attended a local government hearing in full drag to oppose an anti-trans bill.
In February 2023, several RuPaul's Drag Race alums expressed to EW their disapproval of Tennessee's House Republicans supporting a bill that would stipulate harsh restrictions on drag shows and ban gender-affirming care for young trans people in the state.
"I am deeply upset and saddened to hear about the drag ban in Tennessee," Aura Mayari, who competed on Drag Race season 15, told EW at the time. "The state [proposed] this bill to protect children from seeing anything explicit, when in fact, it is a mask used to hide the discrimination toward the LGBTQ+ community and the desire to erase drag. Public indecency is already illegal in Tennessee, this is yet another awful attempt at trying to take away our rights."
Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World season 2 contestant Eureka called the move "blatantly unconstitutional" and chastised lawmakers for fostering a "really scary time."
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Even Mama RuPaul released a public takedown of the legislation, and called for people to donate to the ACLU's Drag Defense Fund, which was created with Drag Race production company World of Wonder and collects donations to help fight for queer rights in America.
RuPaul also used his 2024 Emmys acceptance speech to caution against fearing drag performers.
In addition to her current clapback against Greene, Brigitte made headlines earlier this year after Parton gifted her with a signed guitar. She was also the subject of one of TIME's 100 top photos of 2023, for an image that showed her speaking at the Texas State Capitol (in full drag) in opposition to proposed bills aimed at limiting drag performances.
See Brigitte's response to Greene's criticism in the social media post above.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.
