Maren Morris dares Tennessee to arrest her for introducing her toddler to drag queens

NASHVILLE, TN-JUN 10: Country singer Maren Morris performs in concert during the CMA Music Festival on June 10, 2017 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. Photo: Shutterstock

While protesting Tennessee’s drag ban, country music star Maren Morris challenged state officials to arrest her for introducing her almost three-year-old son to some drag queens.

This year, Tennessee became the first state to pass a law restricting drag performances. It also recently passed a particularly chilling ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth that even requires youth currently receiving gender-affirming care to detransition.

Morris was among a host of celebrities who performed at a benefit concert on Monday to oppose the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Afterward, she wrote on Instagram that “Love rose up.”

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“Thank you Nashville, the gorgeous Queens and the LGBTQ+ community for showing up last night,” she said, adding that at the concert, “A lot of healing happened and it won’t be forgotten.”

As part of the post, Morris included a video of herself on stage at the concert in which she declared, “and yes, I introduced by son to some drag queens today so Tennessee f**kin’ arrest me.” She was met with thunderous applause.

Commenters thanked her for modeling allyship.

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you for letting your actions match what you say that you believe,” one person wrote. “Thank you for screaming your support from the highest rooftops and modeling what true ‘allyship’ looks like. You’re light and you’re love. Keep on keepin’ on— it’s more appreciated than you’ll ever know.”

“Thank you for being such an inclusive voice for country music and the world!” said another. “Your son is so fortunate to have you for his Mama and we are fortunate to be able to hear your message through your music. Keep up the good fight and love will eventually drown out the hate!”

Morris has long been a warrior for LGBTQ+ rights. Last year, she raised over $100,000 for transgender support organizations after Tucker Carlson mocked her on air for standing up for trans people against transphobic comments made by Brittany Kerr Aldean, a beauty lifestyle influencer married to Grammy-nominated country music artist Jason Aldean.

Carlson called Morris a “lunatic,” and a “fake country music singer” after a Twitter battle between Morris and Aldean in which Morris called Aldean a “scumbag human” and “Insurrection Barbie.” Aldean had tweeted that she was grateful to her parents for “not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase” because “I love this girly life.”

Morris responded to the video by writing, “You know, I’m glad she didn’t become a boy either because we really don’t need another as***le dude in the world. Sucks when Karens try to hide their homophobia/transphobia behind their ‘protectiveness of the children.’”

After Carlson took aim at Morris, she immediately mocked his insult by publishing a fake image of herself with a chyron from Carlson’s show declaring her as a “lunatic country music person.”

Morris then published a tweet announcing the sale of a t-shirt with the words, “Marren Morris: Lunatic Country Music Person” on it. The shirt also had the phone number of the Trans Lifeline, a peer support phone service run by trans people for trans and questioning peers.She said all proceeds would be split between Trans Lifeline and the GLAAD Transgender Media Program.