Judges In Drag

CAUTION ADULT IMAGES NOT SAFE FOR WORK

A federal judge has recently “come out” as a supporter of exposing minors to obscene adult “entertainment” at drag shows by striking down new Tennessee state law that

prohibits such performances before audiences that may include children.

(Main image from New York Post https://nypost.com/2022/10/18/video-of-drag-queen-gyrating-next-to-child-sparks-backlash/ )

According to reporting for Conservative Review by our friend Daniel Horowitz, last Friday, Judge Thomas Parker (United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee) ruled that Tennessee’s recently-passed Adult Entertainment Act banning adult performances in front of minors “is both unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad.”

The Trump appointee held that although the state indeed has a compelling interest in shielding minors from this sort of indecent exposure, the law “fails to provide fair notice of what is prohibited, and it encourages discriminatory enforcement.”

The ACA banned, as Mr. Horowitz pointed out, "adult cabaret entertainment" that can be seen by children. It defines "adult cabaret entertainment" as "adult-oriented performances that are harmful to minors, as such term is defined under present law; feature go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators, or similar entertainers; and include a single performance or multiple performances by an entertainer."

That seems to us like a pretty clear statement of what is prohibited.

(Montage by Jonathon Van Maren https://thebridgehead.ca/2022/06/14/were-being-gaslit-drag-shows-are-not-for-kids/)

What’s more, the statute defines harm as "that quality of any description or representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual excitement, sexual conduct, excess violence, or sadomasochistic abuse."

Again, only a real pervert would argue that exposing impressionable children to “nudity, sexual excitement, sexual conduct, excess violence, or sadomasochistic abuse,” is not harmful to their development and mental health.

So, if he is not protecting children from sadomasochistic abuse, exactly who is Judge Thomas Parker protecting?

It turns out that Judge Parker views the law as “discriminatory” because it allegedly specifically targets homosexual-themed performances. But to the extent that is true, observed Mr. Horowitz, it’s only because it’s homosexual and transgender behavior that is disproportionately marched down the street in parades, much more so that heterosexual promiscuity, which would clearly be banned under this statute too.

Are we to conclude, then, that this summer we and our children will be exposed to, courtesy of Judge Thomas Parker’s ruling, “Straight Pride” parades in which heterosexual couples will mount parade floats and copulate their way down Main Street?

We doubt the voters of Tennessee would stand for that any more than they want the obscene displays that are regular features of drag shows, transgender and homosexual “Pride” parades and events.

However, Judge Thomas Parker of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee isn’t the only federal judge with a case before him challenging a new state law intended to protect children from obscenity.

Orlando Weekly reports U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell for the Middle District of Florida held a hearing Tuesday on a motion by operators of the Orlando restaurant Hamburger Mary’s for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against SB 1438, Florida’s new law providing penalties for establishments that permit children to attend adult entertainment and prohibiting local governments from permitting such adult entertainment on public property where children may be present.

The operators of Hamburger Mary’s, who claim they have presented drag shows for 15 years, including what its motion described as “family friendly” performances, contend that the new Florida law violates First Amendment rights. In part, the motion said the law “prohibits protected speech based on the identity of the speaker” and is vague and overbroad.

However, in a 25-page response filed last Friday, lawyers in Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office argued Presnell should dismiss the case or at least reject the motion, which Presnell will treat as a motion for a preliminary injunction. They wrote that the law bars children from attending “adult live performances,” not specifically drag shows, and that its definition of the performances tracks obscenity standards that have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The act (law) does not prevent establishments from continuing to stage ‘adult live performances’ or deny access by adults to those performances,” the state response said. “It merely requires the exclusion of children for whom the performance would not be age-appropriate. And contrary to HM’s (Hamburger Mary’s) implication, the act does not target drag shows; by its terms, it protects children from exposure to any kind of sexually explicit live performance that is obscene for the age of the child present.”

Attorney General Ashley Moody’s lawyers distinguished the Florida law from the Tennessee law by arguing, “The (Florida) act prohibits the knowing exposure of children to ‘adult live performances’ no matter who is leading or performing it,” the Florida filing said. “And the objective purpose, again, is not to target drag queens but to protect children from exposure to age-inappropriate, sexually explicit live performances. The act thus differs materially from the Tennessee statute … which applied to ‘adult cabaret entertainment’ performed by ‘entertainers like topless dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators but not others.’”

Judge Presnell was nominated by former President Bill Clinton, and defenders of the Florida law are girding themselves to take defense of the new law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

• Judge Thomas Parker

• United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

• Adult Entertainment Act

• adult cabaret entertainment

• Hamburger Mary’s Florida

• Bud Light brand Vice President Alissa Gordon Heinerscheid

• bud light transgender

• transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney

• gender dysmorphia

• American culture

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• Biden administration transgender regulation

• Parental Bill of Rights

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• Target

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