“I HAD THOUSANDS of dollars of Pride work lined up for [last] June,” says Miss Bouvèé, who moved from Michigan to Florida in October 2020 to make a living as a drag performer and cabaret singer. “I mean, we’re talking pay-your-rent-for-the-rest-of-summer kind of work. And, on May 17, 2023, it was gone. It was like COVID times all over again.”
On that date, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed new laws targeting LGBTQ+ people. The pieces of legislation expanded the state’s existing “don’t say gay” law, placed bans on gender-affirming care, restricted what bathrooms transgender
