Judge places temporary block on Florida law barring minors from drag shows

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked Florida from enforcing a law barring minors from drag shows.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell found that the law, which was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) last month, was likely not “narrowly tailored” enough, making it potentially “unconstitutionally vague and overbroad.”

The judge noted the law does not define several key terms and phrases, such as “live performance,” “child,” “lewd conduct” or “lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts.”

Presnell suggested that under the statue, a “live performance” could “conceivably range from a sold-out burlesque show to a skit at a backyard family barbecue,” while the portion on “prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts” raises questions about the “implications for cancer survivors with prosthetic genitals or breasts.”

“It is this vague language—dangerously susceptible to standardless, overbroad enforcement which could sweep up substantial protected speech,” Presnell wrote in Friday’s order.

The judge also pointed to the law’s lack of a provision that would permit a parent to accompany a minor to an “adult live performance.”

A similar law in Tennessee that sought to restrict drag performances in public or in places where children were present was struck down by a federal judge earlier this month on similar grounds.

DeSantis signed into law a raft of other bills last month widely viewed as targeting the LGBTQ community, including a ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths and an expanded version of a controversial state education law that limits classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity.

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