The Instagram Page 'RuPublicans' Uses AI to Turn Anti-LGBTQ Republicans into Drag Queens

A new Instagram page is using AI to make parodies of Republicans attempting to push anti-LGBTQ bills. The account, called @RuPublicans--a spin on name of the political party with a nod to the famed RuPaul–has gained nearly 100,000 followers in less than two weeks since its launch, going viral for its creative AI portraits of different Republicans in full drag. Created by partners and digital nomads Craig and Stephen (who asked to be identified by their first names only to maintain their privacy), the project sees the couple using art and technology for political activism. "We were bearing witness to the rhetoric and actions against the drag community," Craig tells TIME, "and it made us want to do something, so we had this idea of putting the GOP in drag." The pair were traveling in an Airstream through the American West when they came up with the idea for the Instagram account, which comes at a particularly vulnerable time for LGBTQ rights in the U.S. State lawmakers are introducing more anti-LGBTQ this year than in the past collective five years, according to Bloomberg and data from the American Civil Liberties Union.