Georgia Republicans Who Criminalized Trans Care Caught in Drag Photos From High School

Two Georgia Republicans who have made careers out of attacking transgender people and demonizing drag performances have a secret: they did drag themselves.

Newly surfaced yearbook photos obtained by The Advocate show U.S. Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter dressed in drag during their high school years in the 1970s and 1980s. Both men are now running in the Republican primary to challenge Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, a vocal LGBTQ+ ally, in the May 19 election.

The photos reveal a stark hypocrisy. Collins and Carter have spent their congressional careers pushing legislation to criminalize gender-affirming care for minors, strip protections from transgender students, and paint drag performances as threats to children. Yet when they themselves played with gender presentation as teenagers, it was just harmless fun.

The Photos

Collins appears in his 1985 Piedmont Academy yearbook wearing a floral sleeveless dress and long wig, standing alongside another student also in drag. The caption identifies them as "Senior class 'beauties,' Mike Collins and Andy Brady." A second photo shows Collins still in drag, posing with other members of his graduating class.

Carter's drag photo comes from the 1975 Robert W. Groves High School yearbook, showing him in a long dress and sash. While the image lacks a caption, it bears a strong resemblance to Carter's senior portrait from the same yearbook. A separate photo posted to Reddit in 2025 allegedly shows Carter in drag with the caption "Miss 'Cantelope' Carter," though The Advocate could not independently verify that image.

The Legislative Record

The contrast between these youthful photos and the men's current political positions could not be sharper.

Carter, who brands himself a "MAGA warrior," introduced the "Truth in Gender Act" in June 2025 to codify Trump's executive order recognizing only two biological sexes. He voted for the "Protect Children's Innocence Act," which would make providing gender-affirming care to minors a federal felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. His campaign ads have attacked transgender women competing in sports.

Collins also supported the felony criminalization bill, calling gender-affirming care "radical woke ideology." He has pushed to ban transgender athletes from women's sports and blamed a train derailment on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. As recently as March 31, he mocked Trans Visibility Day by posting a photo of the Confederate flag-bearing Trans Am from "Smokey and the Bandit."

Collins also called for adding Rev. Marianne Budde to a deportation list after she pleaded with Trump for "mercy" toward LGBTQ+ people during a Washington, D.C. service following Trump's January 2025 inauguration.

The Hypocrisy

David Stacy, vice president of government affairs for the Human Rights Campaign, called out the double standard. "Rep. Collins and Rep. Carter are running to represent every Georgian, but they've made it clear that they don't believe LGBTQ+ Georgians are worthy of equal rights," he told The Advocate.

The message is clear: drag is acceptable when straight Republican men do it as a joke, but a threat to society when LGBTQ+ people embrace it as part of their identity or artistic expression.

The Responses

When confronted with the photos, Collins' communications director Emma Gibson dismissed the images as "lighthearted humor" from "40 years ago," claiming only people with "brains rotted by ill-prescribed hormones" would see anything more in them. The statement also falsely identified the person next to Collins in the photo as his wife, despite the yearbook caption clearly naming a male classmate.

Carter's spokesperson refused to confirm or deny whether the congressman appears in the photos, instead texting The Advocate: "You're playing with fire to run a story without verification." When pressed on whether Carter denies the image is him, the spokesperson wrote: "You'd like us to do your job?"

The refusal to simply deny being in the photos speaks volumes.

The Broader Pattern

This hypocrisy is not unique to Collins and Carter. Conservative politicians have repeatedly been caught engaging in the very behaviors they condemn when LGBTQ+ people do them. Project 2025 co-author Mike Howell was photographed with a friend in drag. Republican lawmakers who rail against drag shows have attended or participated in similar performances themselves.

The pattern reveals that the anti-drag, anti-trans crusade was never about protecting children or preserving traditional gender norms. It is about punishing LGBTQ+ people for existing while carving out exceptions for straight people to play with gender as they please.

Sen. Ossoff's campaign called out the hypocrisy directly. "Instead of working to find bipartisan solutions on issues impacting Georgians' lives, like lowering costs at the grocery store or making health care more affordable, Mike Collins, Derek Dooley, and Buddy Carter are shamelessly using trans individuals as a prop for political division," a spokesperson said. "It's gross and wrong."

Georgia voters will decide in the May 19 primary which of these three Republicans will face Ossoff in the general election. But the photos make one thing clear: the anti-LGBTQ+ crusade has nothing to do with principle and everything to do with power.