Sorry fam but post covid that’s gonna happen pretty much no matter what. If “it’s okay to do drag” is a losing position your state is already lost. Best to move the culture forward at large and loudly proclaim that people who are different from the norm are still valid and have a place.
Valuing short term optics over acknowledging and celebrating identity is in the long run a losing position. Look at the captured black and queer votes. Those are massive bases for Democrats and aren’t going away for ages, but embracing civil rights lost Dems the South and you but 60 years ago were making this exact same argument. But look at the culture now. Sure, there’s a reaction under way but the vast, vast majority of people are against segregation, are fine with miscegenation and don’t give a fuck about who you fuck. That’s because people took unpopular positions and made them popular.
I’d rather have safe, out queers than a DINO senator.