Republican Rep. Nancy Mace launched a new attack on drag queens this week, but the Drag Race divas are hitting back.
The South Carolina conservative drew attention during a congressional hearing when she displayed photographs of Drag Race host RuPaul and stars Kandy Muse and Joey Jay as she argued that drag “sexualizes” children.
In a subcommittee hearing Tuesday, examining the Trump administration’s assertion that the Smithsonian is insufficiently patriotic, Republican Rep. Tim Burchett said the institution had "become infected by a woke ideology." Mace criticized the National Museum of American History for displaying a photo of drag legend and Emmy-winner RuPaul.
“RuPaul is a man that dresses like a woman, literally," Mace said, before launching into an attack on drag queens which relied on the tried and true GOP rhetoric that equates LGBTQ+ people and drag queens with child predators.
"Do you know how many kids get raped by adults in this country?" she asked during the hearing. Mace went on to argue that displaying photos of drag queens for children puts them at risk. "Putting this kind of crap in front of kids sexualizes them," she said. "Makes them vulnerable to people who wanna abuse them."
The queens didn’t take the insult from the loudest and proudest anti-trans Republican lying down. RuPaul has yet to comment, but both Kandy Muse and Joey Jay clapped back on X (formerly Twitter).
Kandy Muse wrote, “can I sue?” along with a reposted image of Mace holding up their photos at the House hearing. Joey Jay took things a step further when she commented, “I’m talking with my lawyer I’ll let you know what he says.”
Other Drag Race stars also weighed in after the Here’s Why Kevin Instagram account posted a clip from the hearing.
Willam wrote in the comments under the video, “the continental congress wore wigs and heeled shoes. they’re in the museum and didn’t want to rape kids did they? well other than thomas jefferson but besides the point.”
Cynthia Lee Fontaine also wrote a comment, reminding Mace that she might want to pay closer attention to the child sexual abuse happening in churches instead of what drag queens are doing.
"@repnancymace instead of focus on artist who do female illusionist that do more for the society in general and contribute culturally to the history of our country, why don’t invest your time in education and also getting churches investigated for sexual abuse and conversion therapies damaging children by the pastors. This last groups I mentioned are really a HARM to children. Get your facts right sweetie," she wrote.
Mace, who has built her career in Congress around attacking the trans community, held up the photos of drag queens and a leather harness as part of the Republican led committee’s attack on a temporary Smithsonian exhibit that closed in 2021 called “Illegal to Be You: Gay History Beyond Stonewall,” which explored the criminalization of queer people and the fight for equality.
Smithsonian Director Anthea Hartig defended the exhibit, explaining that everyone under 18 had to be accompanied by an adult and that “no one complained” during the exhibit’s run at the museum.
Amid the country’s ongoing Mitch McConnell health watch, as the Kentucky Republican begins his second month in the hospital, news broke Sunday that his colleague, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, had died.
Graham passed away Saturday night after a probable aortic tear, according to reports. He had represented South Carolina in the Senate since 2003.
The internet had already spent days hard at work mocking CNN commentator Scott Jennings's alleged phone call with McConnell from his hospital bed (the call prompted CNN to distance itself from Jennings, emphasizing that he is not a journalist), but when news of Graham’s death was announced, people across social media immediately pivoted to jokes and memes at Graham’s expense.
Those jokes included burning both Graham and McConnell in one fell swoop by saying things like Graham’s death “kinda feels like we got a free appetizer because our entrees were taking too long" have become popular, as are memes making fun of the long-standing rumors that Graham was a closeted gay man because of his ”confirmed bachelor” status. Graham consistently said he wasn’t gay throughout his long career, but as Advocate columnist John Casey wrote after his death, “He always denied it, but I always snickered when he did.”
The jokes aimed at Graham have not been this biting since the supposed nickname “Lady G” went viral after adult film performer Sean Harding alleged that Graham had hired male sex workers. The allegation was never substantiated.
Republicans have called the reaction callous, but many LGBTQ+ people point to Graham’s record as the reason there is little sympathy for him. Over the course of his three-decade-long career, Graham opposed marriage equality at nearly every turn, including voting for the Defense of Marriage Act and supporting a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. He voted against repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” and against legislation that would have prohibited workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The record is extensive.
Critics also regarded him as a glaring political hypocrite. Graham spent 2016 warning that Donald Trump would ruin the Republican Party, only to become one of the president’s most loyal defenders.
Trump himself has celebrated the death of people he did not like. When filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, were found dead in December 2025, Trump used the occasion to attack Reiner as “tortured and struggling” and afflicted with “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
In March, after former FBI Director and special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated Trump's 2016 campaign and potential ties to Russia, died, Trump wrote, “Good, I’m glad he’s dead.
He added, "He can no longer hurt innocent people!”
Graham’s own political record is now fueling the internet’s unsparing response to his death.
Bryon Noem (L), husband of US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem (R), listens as Secretary Noem testifies before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Kristi Noem is leaving her husband of 34 years, Bryon Noem, according to Daily Mail. Let the memes commence!
As background, Kristi's mother, Corinne Arnold, revealed in the exclusive report Friday that the two are officially splitting up after photos of Bryon wearing simulated breasts and tight garments were leaked online earlier this year. In those bombshell April reports, also from the Daily Mail, Bryon allegedly sent explicit messages to adult entertainers in an online fetish community under a pseudonym "Crystal" and expressed an interest in "bimbofication," a sexual role-play in which a person adopts exaggerated feminine characteristics and behaviors.
Bryon has not identified as transgender, an identity distinctly different from this fetish. However, Kristi Noem's record of attacking the rights of trans and gender-expansive people made her the subject of public ridicule — and memes and hilarious social-media discourse highlighting her hypocrisy — following the reports of Bryon's secret activities.
According to Arnold, the former secretary of Homeland Security told members of her family in late spring that she had retained a lawyer and intended to end the marriage. The conversation reportedly took place at a birthday party for one of the couple's grandchildren. Although Daily Mail is reporting the divorce as confirmed, no public filing has hit the internet. However, Bryon has reportedly moved about 20 miles from the couple's South Dakota ranch.
As the divorce news continues to hit the internet, the trolling is amping up once again as social media users poke fun with a slew of punny memes and jokes.
This story is developing, but check out some of the best memes and shady posts so far below.
Demonstrators protest with signs outside U.S. Supreme Court on June 29, 2026 in Washington, DC. Justices released several opinions before departing on traditional summer recess.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court held in West Virginia v. B.P.J. (decided together with Little v. Hecox) that neither Title IX nor the Equal Protection Clause prevents states from barring transgender girls from girls’ sports. But the majority opinion, written by Justice Kavanaugh, is a narrow one, and its limits are significant. Here are the most important.
It permits these bans—it doesn’t require them
The Court held that states and schools may exclude transgender girls from girls’ and women’s teams. It did not hold that they must. The decision removes a constitutional and statutory obstacle to the bans; it does not impose them. This ruling does not require states and schools that have chosen not to discriminate against transgender girls to abandon those inclusive policies.
It leaves the door open for inclusive policies
The Court pointedly declined to foreclose inclusion. It left open the question of whether schools that want to let transgender girls play on girls’ teams may do so. In a key footnote, the Court called this a “distinct question,” not presented in this case, and stressed that “[n]othing in this opinion is intended to decide” it. That question is now moving through the lower courts, and schools that welcome transgender athletes remain free to adopt and defend inclusive policies.
It is limited to the sports context
The Court repeatedly emphasized that sports are distinct, and it tied both halves of its analysis, the Title IX holding and the equal protection holding, to that distinctiveness. The majority drew an explicit contrast with “a typical employment or educational opportunity where equal protection often may require that the government generally treat an individual without regard to the individual’s sex.” The opinion does not present its reasoning as a general rule for other settings such as classrooms, restrooms, or school programs.
It does not resolve the underlying science
The Court did not find that transgender girls who have taken puberty blockers or hormones have any competitive advantage. It described that question as “the subject of ongoing medical and scientific debate” and “not settled” at this time. Rather than resolve it, the Court said that “[t]he legislatures and the schools are better equipped—and under the Constitution, are the more appropriate entities—to assess the competing medical and scientific considerations and draw appropriate lines.” The ruling rests on the majority’s view that intermediate scrutiny does not demand an individualized fit, not on any factual finding about athletic advantage.
It leaves the level of constitutional protections for transgender people open
Addressing the argument that these laws discriminate against transgender people, the Court declined to decide whether classifications targeting transgender status receive rational-basis review or heightened scrutiny, holding that the laws survive “either way.” The majority did not hold that anti-transgender classifications get only rational-basis review. That question remains formally unresolved, and a future case could still establish that laws targeting transgender people warrant heightened constitutional scrutiny.
A setback, not the end of the road
This is a disappointing decision, but a narrow one, a setback, not the end of the road. The Court decided only what states may do in the specific arena of sports. It did not resolve the science, settle the standard of constitutional scrutiny, or take away schools’ freedom to include transgender athletes. Those decisions still sit with school boards, athletic associations, and the people who actually know these kids. Every child deserves the chance to play sports with their friends and to learn what sports teach: determination, resilience, and teamwork. This ruling doesn’t change that.
Shannon Minter is the legal director at the National Center for LGBTQ+ Rights and one of the nation's most influential civil rights attorneys. This piece first appeared on NCLR's blog.