A federal appeals court has upheld Florida’s child protection law that seeks to prevent kids from attending or being exposed to “adult live performances” like suggestive drag shows or lewd “drag queen” story hours.
The case has been in litigation for three years after a federal judge blocked the law after Orlando’s Hamburger Mary’s Restaurant and Bar sued to preserve it’s ability to host “family friendly drag shows,” according to Courthouse News Service and other outlets.
The 2023 Protection of Children Act law defines an “adult” performance as any show that depicts or simulates “nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or specific sexual activities, lewd conduct or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts,” the legal news service reported.
Drag shows are known to feature performers dressed in over-the-top sexualized costumes who perform suggestive dances and sometimes simulate lewd acts.
On Tuesday, the full 11th Circuit bench decided on the appeal, ruling 8-5 in favor of overturning the lower court ruling made by Clinton-appointed Senior District Judge Gregory Presnell 2023, as well as overturning an earlier three-judge panel in the circuit last year that agreed with the lower court’s ruling.
“We will not second-guess the Florida Legislature’s decision to regulate obscenity,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Andrew Brasher on behalf of the majority. “Preventing children from attending adult live performances obscene for them is rationally related to Florida’s interest in safeguarding the well-being of minors.”
Brasher was appointed to the appellate bench by President Donald Trump.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier praised the decision.
“Huge victory for our team at the 11th Circuit! After 3 years of litigation, the full court affirmed the constitutionality of Florida’s ban on children attending sexualized drag show,” he said in a statement. “Great work by Solicitor General Dave Dewhirst, who argued the case on the state’s behalf!”
Hellbound and Down 