ACLU & local queen sues Texas over “stunningly broad” drag ban

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is leading a lawsuit challenging Texas’s ban on drag performance, calling the ban a “cruel attempt to push LGBTQIA+ Texans out of public life.” The law is slated to take effect on September 1.

Senate Bill 12 was introduced and passed by Republicans in the Texas legislature earlier this year and signed into law with great fanfare by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in the middle of Pride month, along with two other anti-LGBTQ+ bills: one aimed at trans minors and an LGBTQ+ book ban addressing content the governor called “trash.”

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He sent a picture of a rifle and called the drag show “pure wickedness!!”

SB 12 makes it a criminal offense to perform in drag in the presence of a minor, with performers and venues alike held liable for violations. Both would face $10,000 fines for participating in or hosting “sexually explicit” performances featuring nudity or a “prurient interest in sex.” 

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The bill’s sweeping language defines “sexually oriented” as any performance where “a male performer [is] exhibiting as a female, or a female performer exhibiting as a male, who uses clothing, makeup, or other similar physical markers and who sings, lip syncs, dances, or otherwise performs before an audience.”

“The Texas Drag Ban is stunningly broad in scope and will chill entire genres of free expression in our state,” ACLU of Texas attorney Brian Klosterboer said in a statement announcing the suit.

BREAKING: We’re suing to stop Texas’ drag ban from taking effect September 1.

Drag and other forms of artistic expression are protected under the First Amendment — and we won’t let politicians get away with this cruel attempt to push LGBTQIA+ Texans out of public life.

— ACLU of Texas (@ACLUTx) August 3, 2023

“This law flies in the face of the First Amendment. No performer should ever be thrown in jail because the government disfavors their speech, and we are asking the Court to block this affront to every Texan’s constitutional rights,” Klosterboer added.

The complaint argues the broad scope of SB 12  gives too much discretion to police and other local authorities to decide what is or is not “sexually explicit.”

“In its zeal to target drag, the Legislature passed a bill so yawning in scope that it criminalizes and restricts an enormous swath of constitutionally protected activity,” reads the lawsuit. “The State has threatened the livelihood and free expression of many Texans.”

The plaintiffs include Houston Pride organizer The Woodlands Pride, Abilene Pride Alliance, Extragrams, LLC, 360 Queen Entertainment LLC, and drag artist Brigitte Bandit.

“Texas queens and kings from across our great state have been targets of threats and misinformation as a result of the anti-drag law,” Bandit said in a statement. “We must reject their attempts to divide us and continue to come together in our truth and power to support each other as Texans should.”

“Long live Texas drag!” the popular drag queen added.

Woodlands Pride president Jason Rocha characterized SB 12 as censorship aimed at erasing LGBTQ+ visibility.

“Censoring drag is censoring free speech,” said Rocha said. “The Woodlands Pride was formed to help amplify the voices and representation of all, specifically the LGBTQIA+ community. Drag is a symbol of expression, and the freedom to express yourself is quintessential to human nature. We know this ban is aimed specifically at our community.

“Our freedoms to exist, express, and speak are at stake,” said Rocha.

Similar drag bans have been blocked by courts in Florida, Tennessee, and Montana for containing “overbroad” provisions that violate people’s rights to free speech and due process.