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Maren Morris Pulls No Punches When It Comes To Her Support of Drag
“Tennessee – f***ing arrest me.”
Country star and proud LGBTQ+ ally Maren Morris isn’t holding back or backing down when it comes to speaking out in support of the drag community.
Monday night, the Grammy-winning country singer performed at the Love Rising benefit concert in Nashville, Tennessee, an event organized to raise money for local queer organizations in the wake of the nation’s first drag ban.
Tennessee earned the dubious honor of being the vanguard of anti-drag legislation when the state passed a measure on “adult cabaret performances” that effectively outlaws drag artists from performing in public spaces including drag brunches, story hours, and even during Pride parades.
Once in effect, lawbreakers will face misdemeanor charges for a first offense and Class E felony charges for a second offense — Morris is unbothered.
“Yes, I introduced my son to some drag queens today,” Morris told the crowd. “So Tennessee – f***ing arrest me.” Folks, this is how you use your privilege as an ally.
The singer took to the stage alongside several queens to perform her song “Crowded Table,” the lyrics of which felt particularly poignant. “I want a house with a crowded table… and a place by the fire for everyone…” she sang.
This kind of support of the LGBTQ+ community has been a recurring theme for the singer, who previously engaged in a public feud with country artist Jason Aldean’s wife Brittany Aldean after she took to social media to slam trans and nonbinary people.
More recently, Morris was a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race where the singer became emotional while speaking with the queens backstage about the treatment of the LGBTQ+ community by the country music community.
“Coming from country music and its relationship with LGBTQ+ members, I just want to say I’m sorry,” Morris said. “I love you guys for making me feel like a brave voice in country music. So I just thank you guys so much for inspiring me.”
Her passionate defense of queer people comes from how she was raised, the details of which she imparted to People last September. Morris shared that she grew up in the theater and was always surrounded by queer people, but that their family also suffered the loss of her mother’s uncle to HIV/AIDS in the ‘90s.
“It was just always a conversation in our household that we’re all the same, and there is no ‘us and you.’ I think that being instilled in me from such an early age, particularly growing up in the south, was really important,” the “Circles Around This Town” performer explained. “I didn’t realize how important it actually was until I got into my 20s and kind of solidified my adulthood and started working in country music.”
Her passionate response on stage Monday night should hardly come as a shock, then, but it’s deeply meaningful nonetheless. Fans online reacted accordingly.
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Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq, and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq, and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
