Laws Against Drag
Written by: Joelle Bayaa-Uzuri
Currently, the fight for LBGT rights and civil liberties wages on in the Supreme Court and courts around the country. The actual laws, especially those surrounding the gender expression of the LGBT community, are complicated and the history behind them is equally as difficult to dissect. 39
The “three-article rule” (or “three-piece law”) was the most common law that specifically targeted the queer community. The law, popularized by law enforcement in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, stated that one must have on at least three articles of clothing from their assigned sex (at birth), or they would be arrested (Ryan, 2019). This law targeted any gender expression that didn’t fit into the stereotypical boxes of the gender binary. However in most cases, and many areas, this law never actually existed.
Laws criminalizing cross-dressing date back as far as 1845 in New York. One of the oldest laws stated that it was a crime to have “one’s face painted, discolored, covered, or concealed… or to be otherwise disguised… while on the road or public highway.” The law was originally intended for farmers who dressed as Native Americans to evade tax collectors. However laws like this, oftentimes referred to as “masquerade laws,” gave the police a perfect tool to attack the growing LGBT population.
Los Angeles was one of the first cities to enact a specific law, The Anti-Masquerading Ordinance of 1889, to purposely intimidate and discriminate against the community (Patton, 2018). This was the city’s attempt to crack down on the growing, visibility of the LGBT community. The masquerading ordinance was compounded by the 1915 California State Penal Code 288a (which made oral sex a felony) and the criminalization of sodomy (a felony since 1850) as an assault on being LGBT.
The anti-LGBT rhetoric and contempt was sweeping the nation. Police would use the masquerade laws to arrest people around their gender expression and variance. However, because the law itself isn’t about cross-dressing (the law is intended to criminalize ‘costumed dress’ as it is used to cover up another crime), people had to be released. That release was short-lived, as it would often result in a swift re-arrest for another, unrelated crime. Even with the conviction of the other crimes, the courts would make it a point to inform that the conviction and punishment was directly related to their gender non-conforming dress. This applied to both men and women of the time. Women in the early 1900s often cross-dressed to find employment, as many employers banned women or practiced extreme, sexist discrimination. When they were found out, these women would be harshly punished. Trans men, due to strong misogyny and transphobia, were always lumped and punished as cross-dressing, cisgender women.
As the war on LGBT people waged on through the early 1900s, arrests based on the old masquerade laws increased, becoming commonplace throughout the country. While it is hard to pinpoint, most recount the 1940s-1960s as the time that the “three-piece law” was enacted. While the law was never on the law books or in any legal procedural manuals, it has been assumed that either this law was a rule of thumb police subjectively used, or a code the community used to warn others.
The unofficial law had many ramifications and a rippling effect throughout the community. This law gave police free reign to raid gay bars and clubs and hassle the patrons. Many patrons were in the closet, and often feared the growing police attention. While the police would round up and arrest the gay men and transgender women who were in violation of the law, it lead to heightened harassment of lesbians and trans men. Police would check the underwear of lesbians and trans men to verify their sex, resulting in public sexual assault and humiliation.
The growing tension and persecution from the police was constant. By the 1960s, the public saw the queer community as a threat to law and order and an attack on the moral values of American society. Gay clubs and bars, now seen as safe spaces and havens for the LGBT community, were routinely targeted by the police. In New York City, it was commonplace for The New York Liquor Authority to close bars and establishments it knew of or even suspected of serving and catering to LGBT people.
It was this escalation that led to what has been infamously coined as the Stonewall Riots. The riots started out as a routine raid when police targeted the Stonewall Inn, a popular bar in Greenwich Village. Police started their usual task of lining up the people of the bar. Anyone violating the “three-piece law,” most of whom were trans women, drag queens, and butch lesbian patrons, were lined up to be arrested, with the police being especially aggressive with one of the women. this sparked unrest within the growing crowd, who was tired of the police harassment and violent, hostile treatment. The patrons and crowd rebelled back against the police in an uprising that changed the scope of police treatment and birthed a gay liberation movement that would sweep the nation.
After the Stonewall Riots, cross-dressing arrests dropped significantly. While there were still some arrests, it was nowhere near as widespread. The “three-piece law” was informally dropped toward the LGBT as time went on, however, the masquerade law would pop up again in a different form in 2011, against the Occupy Wallstreet protestors.
Many states and cities have only recently begun looking at and repealing these outdated laws. As we enter a time where every unjust law is being called into question, the community fights to rewrite the laws and rewrite our future.
Works Cited
Patton, A. (2018, October 15). A War on Cross-Dressing: Los Angeles’ Anti-Masquerading Ordinance of 1889 Targeted the Growing Queer Population of Los Angeles. Retrieved from Pride LA: https://thepridela.com/2018/10/a-war-on-cross-dressing-los-angeles-anti-masquerading-ordinance-of-1889-targeted-the-growing-queer-population-of-los-angeles/
Ryan, H. (2019, June 25). History Stories. Retrieved from History.com: https://www.history. com/news/stonewall-riots-lgbtq-drag-three-article-rule
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