Federal Court Upholds Florida’s Ban on Children Attending Drag Shows

A federal appeals court says Florida can ban children from attending drag shows, finding the prohibition is a “straightforward” regulation of “obscenity.”In 2023, Florida lawmakers passed the “Protection of Children Act.” The law threatens venues that let children attend “lewd” adult live performances with fines, loss of operating licenses, and criminal penalties — even if the children have their parents’ consent.The law defines such a performance as a show that “depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or specific sexual activities … lewd conduct, or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts” or that appeals to “prurient, shameful, or morbid interest” and is “patently offensive.” A national chain that hosts “family-friendly” drag shows, Hamburger Mary’s, challenged the law arguing it violated the First Amendment. But on Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit voted 8-5 to uphold the ban.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on X that the law’s restrictions “shouldn’t even be controversial.” Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, wrote on X that it is “sad” the state had to “fight people in court … who wanted to have children at sexually explicit drag shows.” “I’m glad we fought the good fight and won,” Mr. Uthmeier wrote. The judge who wrote the opinion, Andrew Brasher, who was appointed by President Trump, said, “The act is a straightforward regulation of obscenity.”“Preventing children from attending adult live performances obscene for them is rationally related to Florida’s interest in safeguarding the well-being of minors,” Judge Brasher said. However, the judges who dissented argued the law was too vague. Judge Robin Rosenbaum, who penned the dissenting opinion, called the law a “Titanic-sized iceberg of chilling power.” “Today our Court embraces mess-around-and-find-out (‘MAFO’) First Amendment jurisprudence,” wrote Judge Rosenbaum, who was appointed by President Obama. “Under this form of jurisprudence, a citizen can learn whether a law prohibits their speech only by taking a wild guess, presenting their speech, and then seeing if they get arrested and face imprisonment, thousands of dollars in fines, and loss of their business license.”A judge who wrote a separate dissent, Nancy Abudu, said that an analysis of the legislation, prepared by legislative staff, found that the bill was vague regarding what performances children would be banned from. Judge Abudu said the law “would lead to uncertainty for Hamburger Mary’s and similar establishments, thereby chilling protected as well as unprotected expression.”Federal courts have typically struck down similar bans on children attending drag shows, finding that they are overly broad and vague.

Federal Court Upholds Florida’s Ban on Children Attending Drag Shows

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