US District Judge David Hittner in Houston said the law, which was set to take effect on Friday, likely violates performers’ constitutional right to free speech.
Hittner blocked the law pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU’s Texas chapter, in a posting on X, formerly Twitter, said “drag performers and LGBTQIA+ allied businesses belong in our state — and Texas politicians have no right to censor our free expression”.
Paige Willey, a spokeswoman for the Texas Attorney General’s office, said the state would “pursue all legal remedies” in defence of the law.
“The people of Texas were appalled to learn of an increasing trend of obscene, sexually explicit so-called drag performances being marketed to families with children,” Willey said.
The Texas law prohibits lewd or sexualised performances using “accessories or prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics” in public or in the presence of minors.
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, a Republican and staunch supporter of the law, said when it was passed in April that it would prevent children from being “scarred for life” by being exposed to sexually charged drag shows.
Federal judges in Tennessee and Florida earlier this year temporarily blocked similar laws in those states, also citing free speech violations. Those decisions are being appealed.
Montana, Arkansas and North Dakota have also enacted restrictions on drag performances.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot.)
Freedom of expression or speech does not include performing overtly sexually explicit acts to minors. There should be an age limit on these shows, as there are on movies and TV shows. Children need our protection until they are adults, at which time they can decide for themselves what they see/don’t see.
It’s concerning that Daily Maverick keeps siding with far left extremists. How is this judge “sane” in allowing these sexually explicit drag shows to be performed in public? I’m referencing the newsletter blurb from Daily Maverick which states: “At least one sane judge remains in Texas. For now, a federal judge has barred a previous state ban that limits public drag shows. The move is a win for LGBTQI+ groups challenging similar laws throughout the US.”
Maybe by virtue of these drag shows not being sexually explicit at all and that was just a flimsy excuse from the start.
I’ve been to a paid show by a drag performer that definitely wasn’t organized with children in mind and even that wasn’t particularly sexually explicit, just a music show with someone in an extravagant outfit.
I haven’t heard any similar complaints about Evita Bezuidenhout and I can only assume that’s because, without politicians directly telling people how to think, no one thinks drag is inherently sexual.