Bill banning drag shows from public property advances in Tennessee

Legislation that could target Pride events joins more than a dozen similar bills across the US in flurry of anti-LGBT+ measures

A bill banning “adult-oriented” entertainment from public properties was passed by Tennessee’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives on 23 February in a bid to target drag performances in the state.

The bill – which also restricts so-called “adult-oriented” entertainment to venues for people ages 18 and older – will now head back to the state senate for another vote before it is expected to progress to the desk of Governor Bill Lee.

The bill’s author, representative Chris Todd, filed the legislation following a prolonged public fight over a Pride drag show in Jackson. He claimed the drag show amounted to “child abuse” and called his bill is a “common-sense, child safety bill”.

It is unclear on what grounds Mr Todd classified drag performances people attend voluntarily as child abuse.

The bill is another of a flurry of anti-LGBT+ pieces of legislation introduced and passed in states across the country over the last several years.

The Tennessee House has also passed a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors in the state, less than a year after the governor signed a bill penalising schools that allow transgender girls to compete in girls sports.

Members of the LGBT+ community, business owners and prominent drag artists have voiced their objections to the anti-drag bill, with The Tennessean reporting that one Republican legislator even raised concerns that the bill might also apply to other entertainment like wrestling if it is signed into law as it currently written.

Others have raised concerns that the bill could also be used to target Pride parades and transgender people.

Representative Gloria Johnson, a Democrat from Knoxville, argued that the bill is unncessary given that public obscenity is already illegal in Tennessee.

“If you’re being obscene in front of children, it is already illegal, correct?” Ms Johnson said. “If you’re wearing lederhosen and being obscene in front of children, you’ll be arrested, correct?”

The debate on the bill in the House grew contentious when several Democrats were cut off from questioning under new time rules passed by the Republican supermajority in the chamber.

Far-right agitators have increasingly targeted drag appearances in states across the country, but Tennessee would become the first state to pass such a ban on drag performance.

Lawmakers have filed more than 20 similar bills in states across the country, a movement that opponents have characterised as a retaliatory and unconstitutional campaign to erase LGBT+ people from public life that will lead to more harassment and violence against LGBT+ people.

The Human Rights Campaigh has urged Mr Lee to veto both the anti-drag show bill and the ban on gender-affirming care.

“Drag is a longstanding, celebratory form of entertainment and a meaningful source of employment for many across the state,” Sarah Warbelow, Human Rights Campaigns Legal Director, said in a statement.

“Yet, rather than focus on actual policy issues facing Tennesseans, politicians would rather spend their time and effort misconstruing age-appropriate performances at a library to pass as many anti-LGBTQ+ bills as they can,” she added.

More than 300 pieces of legislation considered harmful to LGBT+ people have been filed in state legislatures so far this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign. That legislation follows the unprecedented surge in similar measures filed by state lawmakers in 2022, an effort fuelled by influential conservative Christian legal groups and a “parental rights” agenda dominating Republican campaigns.

At least 150 bills in 2023 would specifically restrict the rights of trans people, according to the Human Rights Campaign.