File this under "more good news from the courts," which admittedly is not something we find occasion to write every day. On Wednesday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals released a decision clearing the great state of Texas to enforce a law that restricts "drag" shows in public places, or where children may be present.
No more drag queen story hours in Texas, it seems.
An appellate court found on Wednesday that Texas can enforce a law regulating drag shows in public places and in the presence of minors, scrapping a lower court order that had enjoined the state from doing so.
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit reaffirmed its November ruling, saying Texas can enforce the 2023 law regulating "sexually oriented performances." The two-judge panel said only one plaintiff in the case had standing and sent the lawsuit back to the lower court to reevaluate the plaintiff’s First Amendment claim.
The key point seems to rest in the term "sexually illicit content."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is a candidate for Senate, framed the decision as a "major win" in a statement on social media.
"I successfully defended a law protecting children from being exposed to sexually illicit content at erotic drag shows," Paxton said. "I will always work to shield our kids from exposure to erotic and inappropriate sexually oriented performances."
Most of these "drag queens" look about as feminine as the cast of Monty Python in their famous lampoons of middle-class British housewives, and their acts range from the off-putting to the grotesque. If adults want to take in these events, fine; there's no accounting for taste. But clearly, Texas has no taste for this sort of thing around kids, although we might point out that the states are precisely where these sorts of issues should be sorted out.
Read More: Alaska Chalks Up a Win for Sanity: No Drag Queens at Tanana State Fair
There's an argument to be made for the ultimate decisions here being up to parents, not the government. But there's also an argument against holding these events in schools or libraries, where it's not so easy for children to opt out, or for their parents to remove them.
The ACLU (of course) was part of the argument against the Texas law, and a representative made this statement:
In a statement, Brian Klosterboer of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas said the 5th Circuit effectively deemed some drag performances "family-friendly" but that the law, which will go into effect in March, still had perceived constitutional problems.
"The law’s vague and sweeping provisions still create a harmful chilling effect for drag artists and those who support them, while also threatening many types of performing arts cherished here in Texas, from theater to ballet to professional wrestling," Klosterboer said.
Color me skeptical. I've seen a ballet or two in my time, and I don't recall one ever including "sexually illicit content." Theater performances, like movies, are easily restricted to adults, if indeed they do include adult content. It seems the ACLU is reaching very, very far to make this argument.
This case has been in progress for some time; in 2023, Judge David Hittner, a Reagan appointee, found the Texas law unconstitutional. But the 5th Circuit vacated Judge Hittner's order last year, and now, on Wednesday, reaffirmed the decision and denied a request to rehear the appeal.
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