A federal judge will take under consideration a lawsuit against a bill advocates say protects children from seeing ‘sexually explicit’ performances but that critics argue overreaches and violates the constitutional rights of performers.
Senate Bill 12 was signed by Governor Greg Abbott earlier this year. The bill prohibits “sexually oriented” performances to take place in front of children and outlines such a performance to include, “a male performer exhibiting as a female, or a female performer exhibiting as a male, who uses clothing, makeup, or other similar physical markers and who sings, lip syncs, dances, or otherwise performs before an audience.”
The bill is set to take effect on Sept. 1.
Critics argue the language of the bill as a whole is broad and vague and censors constitutionally protected performances beyond drag such as Broadway shows, professional cheerleading dances and other events where people under the age of 18 are present.
If put in place, business owners who host such a performance could be fined $10,000. Performers would face a Class A misdemeanor, which could result in a year in jail, a $4,000 fine or both.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas filed a lawsuit earlier this month to block SB12 from becoming law.
“The Texas Drag Ban is stunningly broad in scope and will chill entire genres of free expression in our state,” Brian Klosterboe, an attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said when the lawsuit was announced. “This law flies in the face of the First Amendment. No performer should ever be thrown in jail because the government disfavors their speech, and we are asking the Court to block this affront to every Texan’s constitutional rights.”
Among the plaintiffs being represented by the ACLU of Texas are The Woodlands Pride, Abilene Pride Alliance, Extragrams, 360 Queen Entertainment and Brigitte Bandit, a drag artist.
Texas Values released a statement which reads, "Texas kids are being targeted and exploited for sexual pleasure and political gain, and this will continue if SB 12 is blocked by the court. We are thankful to the Texas Attorney General’s office for their work to protect kids, and this should be an easy case for the court to dismiss.”
KHOU 11 reached out to the Attorney General’s office for a previous story on this topic but did not hear back.
Conservative group Texas Values filed an amicus brief in the federal lawsuit case in support of the bill.
“We are thankful to the Texas Attorney General’s office for their work to protect kids, and this should be an easy case for the court to dismiss,” Jonathan Saenz, the president and attorney for Texas Values said in a statement.
The injunction hearing to determine if the bill will be temporarily blocked is set for Monday morning on Aug. 28.