Florida’s Drag Show Policy by Jonah H.

 Are Florida drag laws unconstitutional? 

“Florida is where the woke to go to die”, Ron Desantis's words have been famously immortalized as the Florida governor’s anthem, and throughout his presidency, we can see that he did just that. The most famous of all decisions was his “don’t say gay bill”. Blocking transgender or homosexual ideology to be taught in Florida classrooms. But his newest piece of legislation may just bring up more anger and controversy than they don’t say gay bill. Today, we will be exploring the topic: Are Florida drag show laws unconstitutional? But before we begin with my points, let’s go over the background and key main facts about the issue at hand.

LGBTQ rights activists are commonly known to raise awareness for their cause, by hosting events for children and adults in public places, such as libraries and parks or more private places. These have ranged from sexually explicit, or drag queens just reading an lgbtq+ book in the library to children but many parents are angry and legislators, and so Florida recently passed a law that does not allow minors to go to these events. Today we’ll be exploring this topic through of course, three points, first the Republican viewpoint, and the LGBTQ rights activist sides and finally, we will be exploring the point that is truly constitutional. 

So let’s begin with our first point. The reason that Florida's governor proposed the bill, is for one reason only: to protect kids from sexually explicit content. "We have laws against child endangerment," DeSantis said during a news conference in Fort Myers Beach last week, after a video of children attending a drag bar in Dallas surfaced. 

A few days later, Arizona senator Vince leach backed the bill and explained his reason for this statement” It's a drag on society, These are kids looking at something they'll never be able to get out of their minds. We don't allow kids into strip joints, we don't allow them into X-rated movies ... so it's foreign to me why we allow this to go on."Vince leach wants to go even more extreme on governor desantis’s bill stating that he would like to fine guardians for allowing minors under their protection to go to drag shows. 

The reasoning seems sound, letting kids look at sexualized content does NOT seem constitutional and does NOT seem like something that our forefathers would want little children to see. Especially, when some of these “shows” are hosted in gay bars and other purposely sexual places. However, drag queens across the country responded to this many ways which bring me to my second point, The LGBTQ side. Of course, LGBTQ rights activists are horrified and angered that the Florida governor would even consider this bill. Their main argument and refutation are that simply, drag shows are not explicit. However, evidence and past precedents show this is false and that drag shows are inherently sexual in nature and it really depends on the shows and the person watching. 

On the other hand, DeSantis’s gubernatorial rival, Democrat Nikki Fried, announced she supports drag shows. She told the website Florida Politics, "If a parent wants to take their kids to a drag show, that's on the parents. And it's entertainment. The kids are not turning gay because they went to a drag show." at the core of this argument it is true, parents should be in control of their children and it should be their decision if they would let them attend a drags show. However, as vince leach  said, we wouldn’t let them rent an x rated movie or go to a strip bar. So inherently we should treat drag shows the same way. 

Lastly, the most popular argument is of the specifics of the bill. Drag queen tiffinaie fantasia, stated his argument, stating that kids have grown up watching people cross-dress, such as bugs bunny in looney toons. We won’t ban looney toons? Furthermore, a drag show is very different than a cartoon for children on a streaming service. 

lady bunny a drag queen who has spoken out against the bill, stated recently“It’s not my decision to make because I don’t have kids, but story hours destigmatize the drag queen, people who are non-binary or trans, at an early age so that we don’t get bashed, murdered or treated poorly,” “And I think that’s healthy.” later she goes on to state that she’s worried that children won't be able to go to plays, like twelfth night, as there is a cross-dressing character in a Shakespeare play. Or that entertainment would be banned. But the activists rely the most on one of their biggest arguments, which brings me to my last point, the constitutionally of the bill. 

Current Supreme Court decisions suggest that a bill like the one in Florida probably violates the First Amendment’s protection of free speech. This is, in part, because many drag performances are protected by the First Amendment, which safeguards not only spoken, written, and signed speech but also many other actions meant to convey messages 

The First Amendment protects more than just written, oral, or signed speech. It also protects many other actions designed to convey ideas. The legal terms for these actions are “expressive conduct” or “symbolic speech. Some activities courts have recognized as expressive conduct include making and displaying art and music, picketing, marching in parades, desecrating a U.S. flag, burning a draft card, dancing, and other forms of live entertainment.

The law amends what Florida says “adult cabaret entertainment” and bans “male or female impersonators” from performing on public property or in any other location where the performance “could be viewed by a person who is not an adult,” when such performances are “harmful to minors” as that phrase is defined by the Florida bill.

This law would be unconstitutional if it didn’t involve children, as actions and drag shows are protected by the constitution, and “obscene” and “sexualized ” acts are not protected by the constitution when children are there. 

The only valid, constitutional argument is that drag is an “Act” or “ expressive conduct”, But furthermore, the article and specifications of the constitution state sexualized and inappropriate things are not protected by the constitution. The only problem with this bill is that it bans children from so-called “harmless” or not-sexualized drag shows. If this is so, then further amendments and discussion may need to be brought up in this bill. However, we can see that this bill is protected by the constitution. 

In conclusion, we can see three things about this bill, First most drags shows are sexualized, and as senator Vince leach said, We don't allow kids into strip joints, we don't allow them into X-rated movies ... so it's foreign to me why we allow this to go on.", second, there will be repercussions and problems with this bill, that need to be resolved but as a whole, this bill is constitutional, as it protects the sexualization of children.