Tennessee lawmakers have introduced a bill that would ban lewd drag shows from places where children might see them.
The premise of SB 3 relies on defining drag shows as “adult cabaret” performances.
“It is an offense for a person to engage in an adult cabaret performance … on public property; or … in a location where the adult cabaret performance could be viewed by a person who is not an adult,” the text of SB 3 says.
The bill was introduced by State Senator Jack Johnson (R-Brentwood).
“‘Adult cabaret performance’ means a performance in a location other than an adult cabaret that features topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers, regardless of whether or not performed for consideration,” according to the bill.
A similar bill in the Tennessee House was introduced earlier this week.
That bill would prohibit child sex-change surgeries under threat of civil liability for the doctors performing those surgeries.
Earlier this year, the city of Jackson itself sponsored an “all-ages” drag show, as reported by The Tennessee Star.
“The legislature determines that medical procedures that alter a minor’s hormonal balance, remove a minor’s sex organs, or otherwise change a minor’s physical appearance are harmful to a minor when these medical procedures are performed for the purpose of enabling a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex or treating purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity,” says House Bill 1, introduced by State Representative William Lamberth (R-Cottontown).
The bill continues, saying that “[a] healthcare provider shall not perform or offer to perform on a minor, or administer or offer to administer to a minor, a medical procedure if the performance or administration of the procedure is for the purpose of … enabling a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex; or … treating purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity.”
Across the country, minor sex-change operations and “all ages” drag shows have become a hot topic of debate, with Republicans working to end the practices.
The Florida Board of Medicine has voted to end minor sex-change surgeries.
The Biden administration, on the other hand, has made it explicitly clear that it supports the practice, despite the fact that “de-transitioning” is extremely difficult and in many cases impossible.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
You say:”Sometimes I really feel like I am living in a blue state not Tennessee” – Totally agree and sometimes I feel like I am living in a third world country, not the US…
The decent people of Tennessee should DEFY these right wing extremists like Jack Johnson and Company. Or, better yet, let’s dig up dirt on these creeps, especially with the big shots like Governor Lee, Marsha Blackburn, et al. and go after them!
It should be a really interesting 2023 legislative session. Maybe the “conservatives” will finally put their big boy britches on and pass some serious legislation rather than the watered-down stuff that comes out of committee…. or dies in committee. Sometimes I really feel like I am living in a blue state not Tennessee.