So glad to see that Esquire's Charles Pierce is a reader of this site. From his column today, in which he references my morning piece on Nebraska's anti-transgender bill:
"Not even Shakespeare would be safe, as P. M. Carpenter helpfully points out. The law...
"would apply to any show whose 'main aspect [is] a performer which exhibits a gender identity that is different than the performer’s gender assigned at birth using clothing, makeup, or other physical markers; and the performer sings, lip syncs, dances, or otherwise performs before an audience for entertainment.'
That's quite the broad wording. As such, Nebraska's bill would outlaw the public presentation of several Shakespeare plays: "The Merchant of Venice," "As You Like It," and "Twelfth Night." Gone would be Portia as a law clerk, Rosalind as Ganymede, and Viola as Cesario. In Shakespeare's era, female characters were played by cross-dressing males. Today, women actors dressed like men in Omaha or Lincoln would still be banned from performing Shakespeare.
"I'm thinking that thoughts of Twelfth Night were not thick in the chamber of the Unicameral when this law got passed. 'I am not what I am,' as Viola says."
I tried to leave a comment on his page noting that it was Iago (Othello) who said "I am not what I am," which, when read in Shakespeare's context, is a chilling passage. My attempt was unsuccessful, something to do with a pop-up blocker. Perhaps Mr. Pierce will see the editorial correction here.