Drag shows express a litany of emotions and purposes' that warrant protection, the judge wrote.
Texas drag queen Brigitte Bandit speaks during a news conference after a court hearing for Senate bill SB12 at the Bob Casey United States Courthouse on August 29, 2023, in Houston, Texas.A federal judge has found Texas’s law targeting drag performances to be overly vague and in direct violation of First Amendment speech rights, thus rendering it unenforceable.Tuesday, placing a permanent injunction on the law known as Senate Bill 12.
Hittner ruled that the law was incongruent with the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, in direct violation of speech rights of drag performers in the state. Hittner also rejected the notion that drag performances are lewd or obscene. “Drag shows express a litany of emotions and purposes, from humor and pure entertainment to social commentary on gender roles,” Hittner wrote. “There is no doubt that at the bare minimum these performances are meant to be a form of art that is meant to entertain, alone this would warrant some level of First Amendment protection.”
The vagueness of the law was also problematic, wrote Hittner, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan. “It is not unreasonable to…conclude that activities such as cheerleading, dancing, live theater, and other common public occurrences could possibly become a civil or criminal violation” under the law, he noted in his ruling.
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