Tennessee Drag Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
A Tennessee Federal Judge has overturned a ban on drag shows and performers, finding the law to be overly broad and unconstitutional.
The law, which strictly limited drag performers and banned drag shows on public property and in front of minors was one of the first in the nation. U.S District Court Judge Thomas Parker wrote last Friday that the law was “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overly broad,” and infringed upon the First Amendment right of drag performers.
There have been over 25 bills that have been introduced across the country which aim to limit or ban drag performances. In March, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill aimed at “adult cabaret entertainment” in public or in front of minors. An LGBTQ+ theater group from Memphis, Friends of George’s, sued over the law saying that it infringed and violated their First Amendment Rights.
Judge Parker, who was originally appointed by Donald Trump, agreed that the law was “vague and overly broad,” and he temporarily blocked the law. “The AEA can criminalize — or at minimum chill — the expressive conduct of those who wish to impersonate a gender that is different from the one with which they were born in Shelby County,” Parker said. “Such speech is protected by the First Amendment.”
“The decision also stated that laws infringing on the First Amendment right to freedom of speech must be “narrow and well-defined, but the AEA is neither,” he wrote.
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