Ohio Lawmakers Consider Bill That Would Ban Drag Shows in Public Places

Ohio’s state senate is considering a bill that would ban drag shows in most public spaces in the name of protecting children from obscene imagery. Supporters say the bill is primarily aimed at protecting children from the lewd behavior of adults but opponents say the language is an attack on civil liberties and free speech.The Indecent Exposure Modernization Act would update the state’s obscenity laws to close loopholes that allow men to expose themselves to young girls in their private spaces.“It closes a loophole that allows adult oriented sexual performances to fill into the public spaces where children are present,” one of two Republicans to introduce the bill, Assemblywoman Angie King said. “The only purpose is to protect children and protect the innocence of Ohio’s children in both public and private spaces.”State Representative Josh Williams says he helped craft the bill because of a 2023 case in which a man charged for being naked in front of children in a YMCA women’s locker room was found not guilty after arguing that he was too fat for girls to see his genitalia so he wasn’t indecent under Ohio law. “My bill, the Indecent Exposure Modernization Act, closes legal loopholes to ensure that perverts like that man can be held accountable,” Mr. Williams said in an X post.The proposal would also criminalize what it labels “obscene sexual performances” in front of minors, language that critics say would put drag shows in the same category as strippers and topless dancers.“Performers or entertainers who exhibit a gender identity that is different from the performer’s or entertainer’s biological sex using clothing, makeup, prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts, or other physical markers” would be in violation of the law, along with “entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest.”Penalties range from a first degree misdemeanor to a felony depending on the type of performance and the audience.The bill passed the Ohio House on a 63-30 vote with all Democrats voting no. The American Civil Liberties Union testified against the proposal and says it is “full of vague, overbroad, and nonsensical provisions that can be easily contorted, twisted, and misapplied.”The group says indecent exposure is already illegal in the state and drag is protected speech under the First Amendment. “This bill is yet another attempt to silence and censor the LGBTQ community by denying drag performers their constitutional right to free expression,” the ACLU said in a statement.“This bill takes regular, everyday activities and turns them into potential crimes, based on whether somebody else might be offended by what other people are wearing,” the director of the LGBTQ rights group Equality Ohio, Dwayne Steward said in a statement.Similar laws have been blocked in other states over freedom of speech concerns. The United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction against a Montana law which banned drag performances.

Ohio Lawmakers Consider Bill That Would Ban Drag Shows in Public Places

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