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The Tennessee Conservative [By Kelly M. Jackson] –
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court’s ruling stating that the Tennessee law that age restricts drags shows is not unconstitutional and that the drag troop in Memphis who filed the lawsuit, Friends of George’s, does not have standing to sue.
According to the latest reports, in the Thursday ruling reversing the lower court’s decision, a panel from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Memphis theater company, which produces shows that include drag, was not at risk of violating the law because its shows would not meet the legal definition of “harmful to minors.”
The rationale used by the court essentially said that while the language in the new law includes performers who dress in clothing of the opposite sex, it doesn’t necessarily mean the performance will automatically violate the law.
With new additions to the language of the law, a violation would include what the law calls an “adult cabaret performance” which is defined as “a performance in a location other than an adult cabaret that features topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers, regardless of whether or not performed for consideration.“
To give a better idea of what the state of Tennessee means when they say “prurient interest;” the law is very specific when it defines the nature of such a performance: “A performance of actual or simulated specified sexual activities, including removal of articles of clothing or appearing unclothed, regardless of whether a fee is charged or accepted for the performance and regardless of whether the performance is provided as an employee or an independent contractor.”
The argument plaintiffs presented to the district court with which the district court agreed, was that because all their performances include drag actors, that the over broadness of the statute could cause the troop to inadvertently violate the law, and this intern would be a violation of their 1st Amendment right to self-expression.
As pointed out by the 6th Circuit court of appeals, there also needs to be an element of the performance that appeals to the “prurient” interest, so while you might have actors that are dressed as the opposite sex, (think the old movie “Some Like it Hot”) it doesn’t mean those performances will necessarily be sexualized.
Therefore, since that element is avoidable by simply not including anything Tennessee code would classify as “obscene”, the troop has no reason to worry it would inadvertently violate the law.
Because of this fact, the troop cannot demonstrate harm and therefore have no standing to assert such a challenge.
Other reports on the ruling state that the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office emphasized that the Sixth Circuit found that the district court was mistaken, in saying “there is no constitutional interest in exhibiting indecent material to minors.”
Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement the entertainment act has been “misrepresented” since it became law.
“As a state overflowing with world-class artists and musicians, Tennessee respects the right to free expression. But as the court noted, Tennessee’s ‘harmful to minors’ standard is constitutionally sound and Tennessee can absolutely prohibit the exhibition of obscene material to children,” Skrmetti said.
The issue now will become whether public venues will want to take the chance that any of the performances that include drag will expose their venue to possible legal issues, such as the ones experienced by Maryville College in Blount County, which caused them not to renew the opportunity for Blount Pride to be hosted on their campus this summer for their PRIDE weekend celebration.
Organizers claim they were denied access to the Maryville College venue because the group refused to cancel drag performances scheduled as a part of the event.
However, a statement from the college instead says legal issues, as well as public reaction and safety concerns, regarding last year’s event led to their decision to deny the request.
Maryville allowed the Blount Pride event to be held on their campus in September 2023 in their Clayton Center for the Arts. Fifth Judicial District Attorney General Ryan Desmond sent a letter to event organizers and city officials stating that he was prepared to enforce state law forbidding drag shows.
After the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of the event organizers, Maryville College allowed them to use the venue. Protestors flooded the campus, holding signs to promote the law.
The event included a drag queen story time, as well as a speech from Zooey Zephyr, a transgender Democrat representative from Montana.
Also affected by the new law will be larger productions like that of RuPaul’s Night of The Living Drag which was hosted this past year at of all places, The Grand Ole Opry House, known for family friendly and all around wholesome world-class entertainment.
For an idea of what this show looks like, and the sort of content that is included, check out this link here. The content is very sexual in nature, there are representations of nudity, BDSM, cannibalism, violence, and various sex acts.
The ruling handed down from the federal court can be appealed, but in order to be successful, the plaintiffs would have to prove they suffered “concrete harm” directly related to the ruling.
Considering that the harm was not provable enough for the court to review the merits of the case to begin with, the success of such an appeal seems unlikely if not impossible.
Dismissals for lack of standing have been considered a “silver bullet” for defendants in civil litigation.
For now, it seems, the law will go into effect, and venues will now have to take careful consideration when booking productions that include drag performances, without also including an age limitation to go along with them.
About the Author: Kelly Jackson is an escapee from corporate America, and a California refugee to Tennessee. Christ follower, Wife and Mom of three amazing teenagers, she has a BA in Comm from Point Loma Nazarene University, and has a background in law enforcement and human resources. Since the summer of 2020, she has spent any and all free time in the trenches with local grassroots orgs, including Mom’s for Liberty Williamson County and Tennessee Stands as a core member. An outspoken advocate for parents rights, medical freedom, and individual liberty, Kelly also has a YouTube channel @Tennessee_Truth_Teller and is planning on expanding out to other channels soon. Kelly can be reached at kelly@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
One Response
I would like the LGBTQ community to answer one question for me. Why is it so important to involve children in your Pride parades and anything else that has to do with perverted SEX? Should we also include children in every strip joint across the nation? Can you NOT run a drag queen event with just adults present?
Well, don’t bother to answer. We all know what your intentions are. You want to make pedophilia legal.