PHOTO OF GOV LEE IN DRAG CIRCULATING ONLINE

A 1977 photo circulating online appearing to show Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee in drag was addressed during Monday’s media availability.

The image surfaced days after a bill that would ban drag show performances on public property or in a place where the performance could be seen by a minor was passed by the Tennessee House.

Gov. Lee held media avail Monday afternoon after Sumner County K-3 literacy visit. A reporter who is not affiliated with FOX 17 News asked him if he “remembered dressing in drag in 1977.”

“What a ridiculous, ridiculous question that is,” Lee said. “Conflating something like that to sexualized entertainment in front of children, which is a very serious subject.”