AUSTIN — A bill pitched as a way to ban children from drag shows will no longer include language specifically targeting performers who dress as the opposite...
for being unclear, too expansive and potentially discriminatory.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker warned the law may be unconstitutional if the state cannot make a compelling argument for why it needs to specifically regulate expression by drag queens. “A regulation that prohibits obscenity performed by entertainers like topless dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators but not others could be a content-based regulation that warrants strict scrutiny,” he wrote.
Sen. Bryan Hughes, the bill’s author, did not respond to requests for comment about whether he supports the change. Shaheen said his conversations with the Senate are “ongoing.” For the bill to become law, the Senate would need to sign off on any changes the House makes.during debate on the bill in the Senate.
“Drag shows are sexually explicit and expose children to issues of sexuality and identity that should be reserved for adults,” Hughes said on March 23.children. That legislation has not advanced in the House.The version of Senate Bill 12 that will be debated Wednesday keeps in place a definition of “sexual conduct” that criminalizes acts like grabbing or pretending to grab someone’s behind or dirty dancing in front of a minor.
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