For months, Texas senators have said their drafts targeting drag shows are meant to protect children from sexually explicit performances.
Some Democrats, performers, and LGBTQ-serving businesses in Texas have pushed hard back against the suggestion that all drag shows are sexual in nature. They have also said that some bills restrict First Amendment freedom of speech because they have testified against the bills in legislative hearings and rallied in opposition at the Texas Capitol.
Opponents of the bill say the Republicans’ proposals are helping to fuel an all-out backlash against drag — as performers have increasingly witnessed. protests and threats coordinator Against them by activists and extremist groups.
“We just need to understand that drag is not inherently sexual, and queer expression is not inherently sexual,” Brigitte Pandit, an Austin-based drag actress, told the Texas Tribune last month.
Amid some criticism, Republican Sen. Brian Hughes From Mineola, who was the architect of some of Texas’ more conservative legislation in 2021, has scaled back his legislative push to restrict raffle shows. And on Tuesday, he received preliminary approval from the Senate for him Senate Bill 12which prevents children from dragging appears only if the performances are excessively vulgar and lascivious.
But moments later, the Senate also tentatively voted 20-9 from the floor of the chamber to defund public libraries where drag queens are allowed to read to children. Senate Bill 1601 It doesn’t tie its fines to the behavior of the performers – it mainly targets Jr Queen’s Tale Hours for all libraries, which aim to promote literacy and encourage children to read.
“It’s a very short bill, a very direct bill,” Hughes said.
Hughes did not explicitly say what SB 1601 could protect children from. Instead, during Senate and committee debates on the bill, he put forward the example of the Houston Public Library Hosting registered sex offenders as one of Storytime’s drag queens because the library did not run a background check as evidence to support the bill.
On the other hand, drag artists and their allies indicated during the bill’s committee hearing that children are more likely to be harmed through gun violence or sexual abuse perpetrated by church members.
Related: West Texas AThe president of A&M University cancels the student drag program, saying it degrades women
senator. Royce West Dallas is the only Democrat to endorse SB 1601. Democratic Sen. Juan “Choy” Hinojosa McAllen voted in favor of the measure from the Senate floor but later said he actually opposed it and would change his vote.
Sense. Boris Milesand D-Houston’s Robert NicholsJacksonville, R., was present in the Senate but did not vote on SB 1601.
Lawmakers, most of whom are Republicans, are pushing a slew of bills during this threatening legislative cycle Upended the lives of many gay people in Texas. Last week, the Senate approved a bill that would prevent transgender children from updating their birth certificate until it does matches their gender. Republican lawmakers want to limit Classroom instructions, school activities, and teacher guidance On sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. And also on Tuesday, the Senate Gave final approval to the proposal Banning transgender children Access puberty blockers And Hormone therapy.
Republican Sen Drew Springer Muenster succeeded in extending SB 1601 to prevent libraries from receiving any public funds in the following year for any events at which drag artists read to children. This means that facilities that violate the proposed restrictions could lose revenue streams from their local governments – an important part of their budgets.
The Texas Library Association declined to comment on the expanded version of SB 1601.
Several Democratic lawmakers attempted to add a provision limiting the bill to only shows showing an early interest in sex, mimicking language pushed by Hughes in SB 12. But that effort failed.
During a Senate committee hearing last month, Baylor Johnson, a spokesperson for the Austin Public Library, said the employer-hosted raffle story events were age-appropriate and well-received by families.
The vote on SB 1601 came immediately after the long debate over SB 12, which restricts the performance of towing in private businesses and public places. SB 12 bars children from lewd drag shows and is a scaled-down version of other legislation that would define anyone in drag as sexually explicit. However, dozens of drag artists and their supporters overwhelmingly opposed these measures during the legislative hearing Last month.
The Senate voted 21-10 from the session floor on Tuesday to give preliminary approval to the subcommittee’s 12th session, which is a priority for Lt. J. Dan Patrick This session. All Republicans voted in favor of the bill. West was the only Democrat to join them. Hinojosa voted for the bill on the Senate floor, but later said he also planned to change his vote.
SB 12 is not an outright ban on drag performance and will not automatically classify all drag performances as lewd. Instead, the bill imposes a $10,000 fine on businesses that host drag shows deemed sexually oriented in front of children. Performers who violate the proposed restriction would also face a first-degree misdemeanor, which could result in up to a year in prison, a $4,000 fine, or both. The bill describes sexually oriented performances as involving a naked or dragged person and as “(attractive) in the interest of sex.”
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The bill, also introduced by Hughes, does not make it clear what “prurient” means – although the US Supreme Court has done so. ID It is “a stimulating, lascivious, unnatural, unhealthy, degrading, shameful, or pathological interest in nudity, sex, or excretion.”
During the debate, Hughes succeeded in introducing an amendment that reduced the bill’s proposed restrictions on performance on public property. Under the new version, SB 12 will also apply to any sexually explicit performances — not just lewd drag shows.
“This amendment will achieve the purpose of ensuring that all obscene performances – any sexual performance that is inappropriate for a child, regardless of the performer, regardless of their dress – will be affected by the statute,” he said.
Supporters of SB 12 – many of them from social conservative groups – say the bill is needed to protect children from seeing sexually explicit content. During Tuesday’s Senate debate on the bill, Hughes reiterated that reasoning.
“What adults do is a separate matter – this law is about protecting children,” Hughes said Tuesday.
The SB 12 is narrower when compared to the Other Republican proposals To restrict withdrawal offers. For example, Hughes Another proposal, determined by Senate Bill 476 Drag appears on a larger scale as individuals wearing clothing or make-up that indicate a gender different from their assigned sex at birth while performing in front of an audience for entertainment.
This broader definition would have included activities unrelated to drag, like a transgender person singing karaoke with his friends at a bar, for example, or an actor dressing up as part of a Shakespearean play that involves wearing clothes traditionally associated with a different gender.
Related: Texas Republicans Introduce Dozens of Bills Affecting LGBTQ People: Here’s What They’ll Do
Revocation proponents insist that SB 12 is an attack on their First Amendment rights and say the bill’s language is imprecise, opening up multiple interpretations. During Tuesday’s Senate debate, some Democratic lawmakers called the bill “too broad.”
“The language in the bill is so intentionally vague that it could encapsulate many forms of bizarre art and try to stop them,” Laurie Bird, an Austin-based drag performer, told the Tribune last month.
Opponents of the bill added that it would hurt restaurants and bars that use raffle deals to attract more customers or charities that host raffle shows as fundraisers. They said the action could particularly affect LGBTQ-owned businesses in Texas.
“We’re small business owners in Texas trying to make a living just like everybody else,” said Bird. “And we are a big part of the tourism and leisure economy here.”
During the subcommittee’s 12th debate on Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers pelted Hughes with questions about what kind of proposals the bill could sign. Democratic Sen Roland Gutierrez From San Antonio a lengthy back-and-forth push raised questions about whether the different scenarios could be considered sexually explicit. This included asking Gutierrez whether two men kissing while walking in a pride parade would be considered sexually explicit under the law.
Hughes did not respond directly.
He said, “An early interest in sex is well determined by the courts. You know that. Anyone on this floor, you and I know—and that’s my answer.” “It’s about protecting children.”
Gutierrez responded that lawmakers should focus on gun violence instead if they want to protect children. The Democratic San Antonio area includes Uvalde, where the deadliest school shooting in Texas occurred last year. Gutierrez introduced different bills This hearing seeks to limit access to guns.
“Listen, we can talk about child protection all day,” Gutierrez said. “You didn’t do much there.”
Gutierrez’s repeated comments about the unattractiveness of his gun legislation drew a rebuke from Patrick, who presides over the Senate. At one point, he told Patrick Gutierrez that if he did not keep his remarks limited to the draft performance bill, the Lieutenant Governor might not continue to allow him to speak.
As bills focused on the LGBTQ community moved through the legislature this year, drag artists, Texans, and community advocates have questioned the veracity of lawmakers’ claims that they are trying to protect children. Many say legislators stigmatize people more.
Pandit said last month while wearing a floor-length pink gown and a large pink wig inside the Texas Capitol.
Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs – and engages – Texans on public policy, politics, government, and statewide issues.
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