The Tennessee governor appears to have dressed in drapery, an art form he wants to restrict.

By the time Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee confirmed on Monday that he would sign a recently passed bill criminalizing drag performance in public and in front of children, a photo of him apparently wearing drag as a high school student has already begun to spread over the Internet. Reddit and Twitter.

Shortly before midnight on Saturday, a Reddit user shared an image of Lee, dressed as a high school student in a short cheerleading skirt, pearl necklace and wig, posing on the school playground next to two girls in men’s suits. The caption reads: “Governor Bill Lee in Clothes (1977 High School Yearbook).”

Gov. Bill Lee is believed to be standing in the middle, 2nd from left, in this 1977 yearbook photo.
Gov. Bill Lee is believed to be standing in the middle, 2nd from left, in this 1977 yearbook photo.Franklin High School via Ancestry.com

In a follow-up post, a Reddit user who did not respond to a request for comment referenced the drag bill on the governor’s desk, saying, “I’m sure it will be signed, but the hypocrisy needs to be poked before they come after the Nashville Game.” or even Rocky Horror at Belcourt twice a year,” a reference to the popular dance club in Nashville and the musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Answering questions from reporters on Monday, Republican Lee said he would sign the drag bill in addition to a separate piece of legislation banning gender-affirming child care in the state. He was then asked if he remembered “dressing in full dress in 1977” and appeared to be shown a copy of the image. He neither confirmed nor denied whether it was him in the image.

“What a ridiculous, ridiculous question,” Lee responded in a conversation that was recorded and tweeted by local news site The Tennessee Holler. “Mixing something like that with sexual entertainment in front of children, which is a very serious topic.”

Lee’s spokeswoman Jade Cooper Byers did not confirm if it was really Lee in the yearbook photo. Byers wrote in an email that “any attempt to combine this serious issue with light-hearted school traditions is dishonest and disrespectful to Tennessee families.”

The school tradition Byers spoke of is most likely a football game in which boys dress up as girls and vice versa during homecoming week. Byers did not respond to an additional question asking for clarification.

While the event photographed in the yearbook fits most definitions of “drag”, it would not necessarily be illegal under Tennessee’s recently passed drag bill, which expressly prohibits “men or women who simulate entertainment that appeals to lascivious interests” from performing in in public or in front of children.

A spokesperson for Lee’s former high school, Franklin High School in Franklin, confirmed in an email that the image is from a 1977 school yearbook and “appears to be Bill Lee.” However, press secretary Corey Mason warned that the photo was not captioned “or any form of identification”.

Much of the 1977 school yearbook, including an image of Lee wearing clothes, can also be found in the US School Yearbook Database at Ancestry.com.

The image comes less than a week after Tennessee lawmakers passed legislation to restrict “adult cabaret performances” in public or in front of children. He defines “adult cabaret performers” as “topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, men or women imitating entertainment that arouses lustful interest, or similar performers, whether they perform for remuneration or not.” .

Supporters of the adult cabaret bill, including Lee, say legislation is needed to protect children from exposure to inappropriate entertainment. Critics say it unfairly targets an art form long associated with LGBTQ people and culture, and generally portrays all drag and drop as lewd and sexy.

After Lee’s performance on Monday, some drag performers criticized his opposition to comparing the yearbook image to the drag performance, calling his response “hypocritical.”

“He says, ‘It’s okay for straight people, but not for the gay community,'” said Denise Sadler, 38, who has been dragging in Nashville for more than two decades. “That’s the message he gets across to people.”

While Tennessee is expected to be the first state to impose such a limit on drag performances, it may soon have company. Republican lawmakers in at least a dozen other states have introduced similar measures this year, according to an NBC News analysis.

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