The Texas Legislature has passed a bill aimed at protecting children from sexualized performances, including drag shows, sending the legislation to the desk of Governor Greg Abbott for his signature.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Senate Bill 12 was sent by the Texas Senate to a joint committee between the two legislative chambers on Thursday after the Senate declined to sign off on changes to the bill introduced by the House.
The original version of the bill passed by the Senate specifically targeted drag performance, but that language was removed by legislators in the House.
The committee reached an agreement, and both chambers passed the bill on Sunday. This version of the legislation prohibits “sexually oriented performance[s] … in the presence of an individual younger than 18 years of age.”
The language of the original bill that specified “a male performer exhibiting as a female” was not included in this version, but the committee did add a portion targeting “the exhibition of sexual gesticulations using accessories or prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics.”
Should the bill become law, violators could be hit with a $10,000 fine.
Texas Representative Matt Shaheen (R-Plano) told The Texas Tribune that legislators saw videos in which children were exposed to “lewd, disgusting, inappropriate stuff,” prompting them to update the bill’s language.
Shaheen said specifically targeting drag shows was unnecessary as the bill is meant to protect children from all sexually explicit performances.
“You want it to cover inappropriate drag shows, but you [also] want it to cover if a stripper starts doing stuff in front of a child,” Shaheen said.
However, critics of the legislation argue it could be enforced against all drag performers.
Austin-based drag queen Brigitte Bandit criticized the verbiage targeting the use of “accessories or prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics,” per The Texas Tribune.
“Is me wearing a padded bra going to be [considered] enhancing sexual features?” asked Bandit. “It’s still really vague but it’s still geared to try to target drag performance, which is what this bill has been trying to do this entire time, right?”
In addition to concerns over what is appropriate for children, controversy over whether drag shows reinforce harmful stereotypes of women has been revived in recent months. In March, West Texas A&M University canceled a planned student drag show, which the school’s president, Walter Wendler, characterized as “derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny,” as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Following protests against the decision and its justification, including by activists identified as “women who love drag,” Wendler faced a no-confidence vote from the university’s faculty in April.
Texas Representative Mary González (D-Clint) also criticized SB 12 for being too vague.
“The broadness could negatively implicate even the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders,” she claimed Sunday before the House approved the bill, per The Texas Tribune.
In a statement following the legislature’s passage of the bill, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said the legislation “prohibits sexualized performances and drag shows in the presence of a minor.”
“I named SB 12 to be one of my top priorities this session because someone must push back against the radical left’s disgusting drag performances which harm Texas children,” he said. “It is shocking to me that any parent would allow their young child to be sexualized by drag shows.”
Patrick asserted that children “must be protected from this scourge facing our state.”
During a prior hearing on SB 12, Rep. Rafael Anchía (D-Dallas), whose district includes parts of Dallas and Irving, asked a proponent of the bill for a list of “kid-friendly drag shows” so he could take his children to go see them, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.