I've been a drag queen in Tennessee for 10 years and scared the 'drag ban' will destroy my career

• A new law makes staging "cabaret" performances in Tennessee a criminal offense.

• Bella DuBalle, a Memphis-based drag queen, said this law will hurt both her and small businesses.

• DuBalle also fears the law will dehumanize drag performers.

Bella DuBalle grew up in rural Tennessee and always felt a disconnect from the southern masculinity she was taught to project. 

When she moved to Memphis in her 20s, and a friend asked her to dress in drag for an upcoming fundraiser, she didn't know it would change her life. 

"The first time I put on drag was the first moment in my life that I allowed all of this feminine stuff that I had hidden away and been taught to be very ashamed of to come to the surface," DuBalle told Insider. "It was so euphoric."

DuBalle has been doing drag for a decade and working as a full-time drag queen in nightclubs and other venues for three years. However, a new law in Tennessee threatens her business and that of fellow drag performers in the community. 

A new law, passed in early March, makes staging adult cabaret performances on public property or that could be viewed by a minor a criminal offense. It defines adult cabaret performances as any "that features topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest." While the bill does not explicitly state "drag," the vagueness of the language creates uncertainty as to how drag performers, transgender, and gender nonconforming people could be affected, critics and politicians say.

A federal judge in Tennessee temporarily blocked the implementation of the law hours before it was set to effect on April 1. DuBalle believes that were the law to take effect in the future, it would harm the income and livelihoods of both drag performances and the local businesses that feature them. 

This is an as-told-to story based on an interview that has been edited for length and clarity.

We need to remember drag performers are people

For a city in the middle of the Bible Belt, I've always felt relatively safe in Memphis —it's a safe blue pocket in the state. That being said, I've always felt a strong pushback about drag and queerness from more conservative Tennessee communities. They're not as accepting.

As these laws came to the forefront, more people have been emboldened to say how much they hate us and it's very dehumanizing. It's fundamentally important, especially now in this discussion, to rehumanize drag entertainers and trans people. Because dehumanizing a group of people is a really slippery slope.

As a drag queen, it's always been part of my brand to remind people that it's all an illusion, that there is someone behind the makeup and hair. And with these laws being set in place, there's a real person who's deeply affected.