{"id":38734,"date":"2025-11-06T22:06:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T22:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/38734\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T22:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T22:06:07","slug":"texas-can-enforce-ban-on-sexually-explicit-drag-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/38734\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas can enforce ban on sexually explicit drag shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\tAudio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Texas can enforce a 2023 law that restricts some public drag shows, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Senate Bill 12<\/a> prohibits drag performers from dancing suggestively or wearing certain prosthetics 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 declared 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 theatre or dancing. More than two years later, a three-judge panel in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals unblocked the law\u2019s enforcement and returned the case to the district court. <\/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

SB 12 considers a performance to be sexually oriented when it includes a performer who is nude or in drag, and \u201cappeals to the prurient interest in sex.\u201d Most didn\u2019t meet the latter 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 \u201cin some sense erotic,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

For instance, a pride group testified that some of its performers may twerk, 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 say which specific 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

The appeals court also 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 instead cheered the 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, called the Thursday ruling \u201cheartbreaking\u201d and that they intend to continue fighting the law. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are devastated by this setback, but we are not defeated,\u201d they said in a joint statement. \u201cTogether, we will keep advocating for a Texas where everyone \u2014 including drag artists and LGBTQIA+ people \u2014 can live freely, authentically, and without fear. The First Amendment protects all artistic expression, including drag. We will not stop until this unconstitutional law is struck down for good.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story will be updated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[23974,1183,27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-38734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-drag-shows","9":"tag-lgbtq","10":"tag-texas","11":"tag-texas-headlines","12":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38734","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=38734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}