TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Senate voted 28-12 on Tuesday for a bill that would allow the state to revoke the liquor licenses of restaurants and other entertainment venues that let children into drag shows.
“Protecting the children of this state is our most sacred duty, but because this bill isn’t really about protecting children I stand in opposition,” said Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, during the floor debate of SB 1438. “This unmistakably targets certain members of our population with a vague restraint on their freedom of expression all with a goal of intimidating vulnerable members of our population.”
Stewart and other lawmakers said laws are already on the books protecting children from exposure to adult entertainment.
Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, said the bill was a waste of the Senate’s time.
“How many kids have gone to drag shows, and how many of their parents have taken them? This is the height of hypocrisy. What is the danger?” Polsky said. “This is another attempt to demonize the trans population because they are the target du jour of conservatives across the country.”
Both the Senate and the House version, sponsored by Melbourne Beach Republican Rep. Randy Fine, would make it a first-degree misdemeanor to “knowingly” admit minors to “adult live performances that appeal to “a prurient, shameful, or morbid interest,” or violates what adults deem proper for children to see.
The House bill is up for its final committee stop Wednesday before going to the full House.
The bill targets “any show, exhibition, or other presentation in front of a live audience” that depicts or simulates “nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, specific sexual activities,” “lewd conduct” or “the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts.”
While supporters say the bill, titled Protection of Children, is meant to protect minors from sexually suggestive shows that have no artistic merit, critics say the language is so broad and vague that it could have a chilling effect on artistic freedom and on what adults can see on Florida stages.
For example, would a stage kiss qualify as lewd or sexual conduct? they asked.
Some Florida theater managers are concerned that musicals like “La Cage Aux Folles” and “Kinky Boots” could be targeted, especially after state officials took steps to revoke the liquor license of the Plaza Live in Orlando held a touring drag show with children in the audience, even though undercover state agents said they witnessed no lewd acts. The Plaza Live is owned by the Orlando Philharmonic Plaza Foundation.
That case is still pending. A similar Christmas-themed drag show at Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center for the Performing Arts was also targeted by state officials, even though the center’s managers said the event was restricted to people 18 and older.
Amid the legal uncertainties, a Lakeland-based nonprofit that mentors and supports LGBTQ students moved its biggest fundraiser of the year — an adult drag pageant titled “Miss Rose Dynasty” — from Orlando to Kissimmee days before the annual event. The organizers of the event had to find a new location after the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts imposed an age restriction on who could attend.
Even Boone High School’s LGBTQ club canceled the appearance of a drag performer at an after-school “drag and donuts” gathering after the DeSantis administration warned it was inappropriate and threatened to investigate school staff.
Other opponents of the bill fear that it could also be applied to Gay Pride parades, where people in drag often participate. Yarborough has said the bill wouldn’t prevent any shows or parades from taking place, as long as no inappropriate material was performed in front of children.
“There has to be a balance about what’s appropriate and is not appropriate for children,” he told USA Today.
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