Drag ban would hurt North Texas economy, says LGBTQ+ group in lawsuit against state

Texas’ drag ban would hurt North Texas’ economy and entertainment scene, LGBTQ+ advocates argue in one of two lawsuits filed this week against the new legislation.

The Texas Civil Rights Project filed a lawsuit Friday against the state of Texas in U.S. Districti Court in Austin. The lawsuit follows a lawsuit filed Thursday by the ACLU of Texas in U.S. District Court in Houston. The ACLU seeks to block the law from taking effect Sept. 1.

The law “presents an existential threat to theater and the performing arts across Texas,” according to the lawsuit field by the Texas Civil Rights Project.

The legislation in Senate Bill 12 prohibits “sexually oriented performance” in front of children and in public. It does not specifically mention drag, an art form featuring a performer who dresses as an exaggerated version of a character.

When the Texas Legislature passed SB 12, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement: “I selected SB 12 to be a top priority of mine because someone must fight back against the radical Left’s degradation of our society and values. I will not allow Texas children to be sexualized and scarred for life by harmful drag performances.”

Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law on June 18.

Nearly a dozen activists, political leaders and attorneys criticized SB 12 in the lawsuits, calling attention to possible First Amendment violations, the law’s vague language and what they say is an attack on the LGTBQ+ community.

The North Texas Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Chamber of Commerce is among the eight plaintiffs in the Texas Civil Rights Project lawsuit. The suit’s primary argument is that SB 12 violates First Amendment rights to free speech.

Tony Vedda, president and CEO of the North Texas LGBT Chamber of Commerce, said SB 12 — in addition to targeting the LGBTQ+ community — threatens North Texas restaurants, bars, theater companies and other performance-oriented businesses. SB 12 is so broad and vague, he said, one could argue that any man dressed as a woman or vice versa or any person wearing a prosthetic could be considered in violation of the law.

The musical “Chicago,” for example, includes a character who is typically played by a man dressed in women’s clothing. SB 12 could classify that performance as “sexually-oriented.”

”It was a bad bill to begin with and people tried to make it better, and that’s kind of what we ended up with; with it all over the place,” Vedda said.

“Chicago” is scheduled to come to Dallas in April 2024 at the Winspear Opera House.

The North Texas Chamber has already faced impacts of SB 12, the lawsuit says. Over the summer, the chamber had to advise several of its members on whether their planned events would violate the law. Vedda said one member hosted a Pride event in June that featured a Drag Story Hour and a business owner was planning a family-oriented drag brunch. They both asked if the events would violate SB 12 once it went into effect; Vedda told them the law was so vague that he could not be sure.

“The law sweeps so broadly, and is written so vaguely, as to touch virtually every type of performance, from music concerts to ballet performances, and from Broadway musicals to movies,” the suit says.

That uncertainty could cause some businesses to “play it safe” and cancel certain events, Vedda said, even if those events have been a large source of income.

“It will have negative impact,” he said.

In collaboration with the Texas Civil Rights Project, the North Texas LGBT Chamber of Commerce will host a “Know Your Rights” session to educatemembers, businesses, nonprofits and individual performers about the implications of this law.

ACLU lawsuit

Similarly, the ACLU suit argues the law violates the First and 14th amendments and is so vague that it “encourages arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.”

The law is also written so broadly it could also apply to cheerleading, theater and even karaoke, said Ash Hall, the ACLU of Texas’ LGBTQIA+ policy and advocacy strategist.

The suit notes that drag events have been targeted by extremist groups and specifically references drag shows in Dallas and Grand Prairie where protesters included “neo-fascists, neo-Nazis and militia members.”

“When we give air time to opponents of LGBTQIA+ people and rights, it does embolden the most extremist type of people to act more violently,” said Hall.

Plaintiffs are aiming to get a hearing before the law goes into effect.

A similar drag ban in Tennessee was deemed unconstitutional by a federal judge in June.

Texas’ drag ban is one of a wave of new legislation filed this session that advocates describe as “anti-LGBTQ+.” Hall called the anti-LGTBQ+ legislation a way for politicians to gain political points at the cost of LGTBQ+ rights.

“The truth is this isn’t actually a problem, this isn’t something that average Texan is concerned about or complaining about,” Hall said. “This is really about politicians making money or political clout by attacking LGBTQ+ people.”