The Sixth Court of Appeals ruled earlier this month, in line with the state’s ongoing drag ban law, to make drag performance and presence illegal in the state of Tennessee. This ruling occurred after a drag group that filed suit against the law’s case was tossed out on a technicality in the court.
Drag has been contentious in Tennessee for almost a year and a half now—Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed the Adult Entertainment Act, or AEA, into existence in March of 2023. The AEA prohibits “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest” from appearing on public property or in locations in which a minor could see it. This puts the kibosh on almost all drag performances that aren’t in adults-only clubs, which means no more drag brunches, drag queen story times, drag at Pride, and any other event that takes place outside of a sexually-charged context.
The group opposing this law, Friends of George’s (FOG), filed on the basis of the law infringing on the First Amendment’s provisions for freedom of expression four days after the initial bill was signed. Interestingly, a Trump-appointed judge, Judge Thomas Parker, sided with the troupe, saying that the AEA’s language and reach was intentionally vague and overly broad, which would lead to “discriminatory enforcement.”
Parker’s decision in favor of FOG was overturned by the appellate court, who threw out their case on a technicality rather than for evidence-based reasons. The ruling, written by a court of three judges, says that FOG didn’t have evidence to prove that their specific performances could be harmful to minors, and therefore, the law didn’t apply to them (even though the drag they perform in is still banned, which disallows the group from performing at all.)
Drag in Tennessee is still alive and well, but is, nonetheless, in serious danger. While some support for drag performance is evident within the state, such as the judge who barred the city of Murfreesboro from enforcing the ban during their yearly Pride festival last October, cases such as this recent Tennessee case examine that the ban and similar bills are still very much a real threat to the queer community.
