{"id":183137,"date":"2026-02-27T16:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T16:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/183137\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T16:30:10","slug":"appeals-court-clears-way-for-texas-drag-ban-to-take-effect-in-march-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/183137\/","title":{"rendered":"Appeals Court Clears Way for Texas Drag Ban To Take Effect in March"},"content":{"rendered":"

By The Texas Tribune via The Associated Press<\/a><\/p>\n

Texas can enforce a 2023 law that restricts some public drag shows, a federal appeals court reaffirmed in a new ruling on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 12<\/a>\u00a0prohibits drag performers from dancing suggestively or wearing certain prosthetics on public property or in front of children. The law would fine business owners $10,000 for hosting such performances, while those who violate the law could be hit with a Class A misdemeanor.<\/p>\n

In September 2023, U.S. District Judge David Hittner\u00a0declared the law unconstitutional<\/a>, saying that it \u201cimpermissibly infringes on the First Amendment\u201d and that it is \u201cnot unreasonable\u201d to think it could affect activities like live theater or dancing. More than two years later in November, a three-judge panel in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unblocked the law and returned the case to the district court.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the appeals court withdrew its November opinion and reissued a largely identical\u00a0ruling<\/a>, denying the plaintiff\u2019s request for a rehearing in the process. SB 12 will now take effect on March 18, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, who represented several of the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n

As part of the ruling, the panel found that most of the plaintiffs \u2014 a drag performer, a drag production company and pride groups \u2014 failed to show that they intended to conduct a \u201csexually oriented performance,\u201d and therefore, could not be harmed by the law. The ruling suggests that the federal judges don\u2019t believe all drag shows are sexually explicit.<\/p>\n

Critics of the ban have previously raised concerns that Republican lawmakers were portraying all drag performances as inherently sexual or obscene.<\/p>\n

And while the law doesn\u2019t have language explicitly referencing drag performances, SB 12\u2019s original version specifically included them. Republican leaders have also made it clear that drag shows are the target.<\/p>\n

\u201cTexas Governor Signs Law Banning Drag Performances in Public. That\u2019s right,\u201d Gov.\u00a0Greg Abbott<\/a>\u00a0said in a\u00a0post on X<\/a>\u00a0in June 2023.<\/p>\n

SB 12 considers a performance to be sexually oriented if the performer is nude or engages in sexual conduct, which could include \u201cactual contact or simulated contact\u201d between one person and another person\u2019s \u201cbuttocks, breast, or any part of the genitals.\u201d It also has to \u201cappeal to the prurient interest in sex\u201d \u2014 and most didn\u2019t meet this criteria, according to the appeals court\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo appeal to the \u2018prurient interest in sex,\u2019 material, at a minimum, must be \u2018in some sense erotic,\u2019\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

For instance, a pride group testified that some of its performers may \u201ctwerk,\u201d but the panel said none of the conduct it described amounts to a sexually oriented performance. It also said accidental bumping or contact during front-facing hugs don\u2019t count.<\/p>\n

The panel did find that a drag production company\u2019s described performances \u201carguably\u201d are sexually explicit, though the ruling doesn\u2019t specifically say which actions qualify.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen asked whether the performers \u2018simulate contact with the buttocks of another person,\u2019 the owner testified that the performers sit on customers\u2019 laps while wearing thongs and one performer invited a \u2018handsome\u2019 male customer \u2018to spank her on the butt,\u2019 said the ruling. \u201cWhen asked whether the performers \u2018ever perform gesticulations while wearing prosthetics,\u2019 the owner testified that in 360 Queen\u2019s most recent show, a drag queen \u2018wore a breastplate that was very revealing, pulsed her chest in front of people, (and) put her chest in front of people\u2019s faces.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Judge Kurt Engelhardt, a Trump appointee, also wrote in a footnote that there is \u201cgenuine doubt\u201d that these actions are \u201cactually constitutionally protected\u2014especially in the presence of minors.\u201d He was joined by Judge Leslie Southwick, a Bush appointee.<\/p>\n

Judge James Dennis, a Clinton appointee, disagrees with this assessment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat gratuitous dictum runs headlong into settled First Amendment jurisprudence and threatens to mislead on remand,\u201d Dennis wrote in his partial dissent in the November ruling.<\/p>\n

In addition, the appeals court removed most of the defendants from the case, before sending it back to the district court to reconsider a part of SB 12 that focuses on the Texas attorney general\u2019s role in enforcing the law.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Ken Paxton cheered the November ruling in a news release.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will always work to shield our children from exposure to erotic and inappropriate sexually oriented performances,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is an honor to have defended this law, ensuring that our state remains safe for families and children, and I look forward to continuing to vigorously defend it on remand before the district court.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs and the ACLU of Texas, which represents them, underscored that Wednesday\u2019s rehearing denial maintained that family-friendly drag shows would still be legal, and said they intend to continue fighting the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law\u2019s vague and sweeping provisions still create a harmful chilling effect for drag artists and those who support them, while also threatening many types of performing arts cherished here in Texas, from theater to ballet to professional wrestling,\u201d ACLU Texas attorney Brian Klosterboer said in a statement. \u201cBecause this law remains unconstitutional, we look forward to continuing this case before the district court and encourage anyone who is impacted by the law to reach out to us. Drag in Texas is here to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By The Texas Tribune via The Associated Press Texas can enforce a 2023 law that restricts some public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[73332,30307,73333,4872,73334,17357,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-183137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-5th-u-s-circuit-court-of-appeals","tag-american-civil-liberties-union-of-texas","tag-drag-performances","tag-gov-greg-abbott","tag-judge-david-hittner","tag-senate-bill-12","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}