Texas Scorecard by Soli Rice September 27, 2023
State Sen. Bryan Hughes promises this is not the end and he “looks forward” to defending the law “all the way to the Supreme Court.”This week, a federal judge ruled in favor of allowing children to be exposed to sexual drag performances by declaring a new Texas law unconstitutional.
Senate Bill 12 by State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R–Mineola) would have restricted sexually explicit performances on public property and in the presence of children by making such performance a Class A misdemeanor. Violators of the law would have been subjected to up to $10,000 in fines per offense.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed the legislation into law on June 18, and it was set to go into effect on September 1.
A drag queen and anti-family groups filed a lawsuit against the law.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner—a Reagan appointee—issued a temporary restraining order in favor of the sexualized drag shows earlier this month, labeling the law as “substantially overbroad” and “unconstitutionally vague.”
“But even if SB 12 were not unconstitutionally vague, it would still fail due to it being an impermissible prior restraint on speech,” he stated in the ruling.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/federal-judge-deems-texas-law-restricting-drag-shows-unconstitutional/
