Florida Senate approves bill aimed at drag shows
TALLAHASSEE -- With the bill sponsor saying children can't "unsee" indecent behavior, the Senate on Tuesday approved a measure aimed at blocking venues from admitting kids to "adult live performances."
While the proposal (SB 1438) doesn't specifically mention drag shows, the bill defines "adult live performances" as "any show, exhibition, or other presentation that is performed in front of a live audience and in whole or in part, depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, specific sexual activities, ... lewd conduct, or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts."
It also has moved forward after Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration took steps such as filing a complaint against the Hyatt Regency Miami hotel for hosting a "Drag Queen Christmas" event in December, alleging minors were allowed to see the show. The complaint seeks to have the hotel's liquor license revoked.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 28-12 along party lines to pass the bill, a day after Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, likened transgender men and women to "mutants," "demons" and "imps" during debate on a separate proposal that would restrict which bathrooms people can use.
The live-performance bill, sponsored by Jacksonville Republican Clay Yarborough, also would prohibit local governments from issuing public permits for events that could expose children to the targeted behavior. Critics said that could effectively shut down local pride parades.
The bill - one of more than 400 pieces of legislation nationwide aimed at transgender people and the LGBTQ community - is among a number of proposals being considered during Florida's 60-day legislative session, which is scheduled to end May 5.
The bill would allow state regulators to immediately suspend or revoke licenses of restaurants, bars and other venues that violate the law.
During debate Tuesday, Senate Democrats warned that arguments used to boost support for the restrictions could have dangerous consequences for trans people, who already are at risk for violence.
Drag shows and trans people are the "target du jour" of Republican-led legislatures across the country, Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, said.
"The bill is, as usual, so purposefully vague as to create an administrative nightmare and seeks to chill all of those (drag) shows," Polsky said. "This bill feeds into that kind of dangerous rhetoric, and it will lead to violence. Here is yet another example of big government going too far to take away our freedom. There's no other way to describe it."
Polsky and other Democrats pointed to comments made Monday by Barnaby during a House committee discussion of a bill that seeks to prevent transgender men and women from using bathrooms that don't align with their sex assigned at birth.
"We have people that live among us today on planet Earth that are happy to display themselves as if they were mutants from another planet," said Barnaby, calling himself a "proud Christian conservative Republican."