Texas once again cannot enforce its restrictions on some public drag shows after a federal judge on Tuesday declared a 2023 law unconstitutional for the second time.<\/p>\n
U.S. District Judge David Hittner initially declared Senate Bill 12 unconstitutional in September 2023 only a few months after it was passed by the Texas Legislature, citing First Amendment violations. More than two years later in November, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unblocked the law and returned the case to Hittner with specific instructions on how to reassess it.<\/p>\n
Hittner reaffirmed his ruling Tuesday, stating in his order that besides removing several plaintiffs and defendants from the lawsuit, the appellate court\u2019s decision \u201cdid not disturb\u201d his prior decision declaring SB 12 unconstitutional. The ruling again pauses the law, which had gone into effect in March after the 5th Circuit\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
The ruling described SB 12 as overly broad in its definitions of performance and nudity, stating that provocative cosplay at conventions, swimming athletes or Dolly Parton and Elvis impersonators could potentially be penalized under the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vast majority of the law\u2019s numerous applications violate the First Amendment because all the performances that it has an actual impact on are constitutionally protected and are targeted for prohibition based on content and viewpoint,\u201d Hittner wrote.<\/p>\n
The suit was originally filed against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, two counties three district attorneys and one county attorney by two community pride groups, two entertainment groups and Brigitte Bandit, a drag queen and longtime Texas LGBTQ+ rights activist. After the 5th Circuit\u2019s ruling, the two pride groups were removed as plaintiffs and Paxton was left as the sole defendant, which Hittner said satisfied the higher court\u2019s instructions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe use our performances to assert liberation, power, and joy with our community,\u201d Bandit said in a statement provided by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, which represented the plaintiffs. \u201cAs a lifelong Texan, I\u2019m sick of this state trying to censor art and stoke hatred and violence against drag artists and the LGBTQIA+ community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hittner\u2019s ruling notes that Gov. Greg Abbott \u201ctouted\u201d SB 12 as a drag ban after its passage in 2023. The law\u2019s critics have repeatedly raised concerns that Republican lawmakers, in passing the law, had portrayed all drag performances as inherently sexual or obscene.<\/p>\n
SB 12 as adopted in law contains no language explicitly referencing drag performances, however a previous version while in the Legislature specifically included references to drag. Hittner noted in today\u2019s ruling that opponents of drag performances are not obligated to attend them.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinally, for those who find such activities as described in this case offensive, the solution is relatively simple \u2026 just don\u2019t go,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Hittner also denied a request from Paxton for a supplemental trial and new discovery in the case. Paxton, in a social media post Tuesday, said his office would seek an appeal to the ruling to protect Texas kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a profoundly flawed decision that endangers our children and is an affront to Texas values,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas once again cannot enforce its restrictions on some public drag shows after a federal judge on Tuesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5291,27,29,28,991],"class_list":["post-418322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-ap-a-wire","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-wires-bot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418322","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=418322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}