Tennessee Gov. Lee Trolled With Billboard Campaign To Splash His 1977 Yearbook Photo In Women’s Clothes Across The State

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched with the goal of purchasing billboards of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to splash his 1977 yearbook photo across the state, RadarOnline.com has learned.

As we previously reported, Lee was confronted last week with the decades-old portrait from page 165, which showed him in women’s clothing including a dress and pearls alongside the caption “Hard Luck Woman.”

The interaction took place not long before he is set to put into effect a bill that would restrict drag performances in Tennessee.

“What a ridiculous question that is! Conflating something like that to sexualized entertainment in front of children, which is a very serious subject,” Lee fired back at the reporter during the event in Memphis.

RadarOnline.com has learned that nearly $50,000 has since been raised to put up billboards featuring the photo next to foster care statistics in the state.

“A National Advertising agency will be designing these ads,” the bio read. “All funds received will go towards this project to help advertise a beautiful photo of Governor Bill Lee as well as the statistics for the foster care system here in Tennessee.”

“The goal is to have billboards in the large cities of Tennessee on main interstates or highways. There will be video updates posted about this journey along the way on my social media platforms. @zacharyheath21,” the description noted.

Press secretary Jade Byers previously issued a statement on behalf of Lee, highlighting how the bill “specifically protects children from obscene, sexualized entertainment” and “any attempt to conflate this serious issue with lighthearted school traditions is dishonest and disrespectful to Tennessee families.”

The legislation that Lee will make law specifically bans “adult-oriented entertainment” that is deemed “harmful to minors” from public property and places where they might be seen by children. The law specifically mentions “go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers” and “male or female impersonators.”

The bill makes the first offense a Class A misdemeanor and subsequent offenses a Class E felony.

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It has been met with both praise and criticism. It’s been claimed this law is not meant to target the LGBTQ community but rather to protect children.

Critics, however, fear the rules may lead to discrimination, arguing that drag is an art form and not the same as exotic dancing.