Saturday, June 03, 2023

Federal judge overturns Tennessee’s ban on drag shows. (Holly McCall, Tennessee Lookout)

Three cheers for Judge Parker in Memphis, a Donald Trump appointee, for his First Amendment ruling on Tennessee's anti-drag law. And three cheers for judicial independence. From The Tennessee Lookout: 

Federal judge overturns Tennessee’s ban on drag shows

BY:  - JUNE 3, 2023 11:36 AM
Drag performer Vanity at a March rally at Tribe in Nashville to protest a law that would ban drag performances any place a minor could possibly be present. (Photo: John Partipilo)

 Drag performer Vanity at a March rally at Tribe in Nashville to protest a law that would ban drag performances any place a minor could possibly be present. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Late Friday, a federal judge overturned a new Tennessee law prohibiting drag performances in public spaces, ruling it unconstitutional. 

U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker ruled the Adult Entertainment Act (AEA) violates the separation-of-state principle and chills speech protected through the First Amendment.

In March, Friends of George’s, a Memphis theater company that raises funds for LGBTQ groups through performances that include drag, challenged the law, which was originally set to take effect on April 1. Parker placed a stay on the law the day before it was set to be enacted while considering arguments. 

In his Friday ruling, Parker wrote that while the state has an interest in protecting minors, the law is not geared to do that. “Instead, that (the legislature’s) predominant concerns involved the suppression of unpopular views of those who wish to impersonate a gender that is different from the one with which they were born.” 

Parker noted the law is overly broad and could apply to almost any public area, while adding that lawyers for the State of Tennessee altered the meaning of the AEA from constricting entertainment deemed “harmful to minors” to entertainment damaging to “a reasonable 17-year old.” 

Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, the legislative bill sponsor, wrote in a Twitter post: “I’m disappointed with the judge’s decision on Senate Bill 3, which ignored 60 years of Supreme Court precedent allowing regulation of obscene entertainment in the presence of minors. Sadly, this ruling is a victor for those who support exposing children to sexual entertainment.”

Parker’s ruling noted the state’s existing obscenity laws “can punish most, and possibly all, of the conduct the AEA seeks to regulate.”

The ruling came with the June 1 start of Pride Month, which features celebrations around the state of LGBTQ rights and culture, many of which have typically featured drag performances.



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Holly McCall
HOLLY MCCALL

Holly McCall has been a fixture in Tennessee media and politics for decades. She covered city hall for papers in Columbus, Ohio and Joplin, Missouri before returning to Tennessee with the Nashville Business Journal. Holly brings a deep wealth of knowledge about Tennessee’s political processes and players and likes nothing better than getting into the weeds of how political deals are made.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

No nudity involved! You can't ban a show! Tis a peaceful assembly! All right wing political stunts! Unconstitutional attempts at religious rule!