Federal judge blocks Montana’s anti-drag ban
A federal judge in Montana has temporarily blocked enforcement of a sweeping state law against drag performances days before one of the biggest Pride events in the state begins.
The temporary restraining order from US District Judge Brian Morris, who was appointed to the court by Barack Obama, argues that the law will “disproportionately harm not only drag performers, but any person who falls outside traditional gender and identity norms,” including transgender and Two-Spirit people.
“Constitutional violations, moreover, never serve the public interest,” he wrote in the filing on 28 July.
Montana’s law “appears to suffer from similar ‘constitutional maladies’” as similar drag bans that were also overturned in federal courts in Florida and Tennessee, according to Judge Morris.
“Chilled speech” and exposure to potential criminal liability under the law could imperil thousands of Montana residents celebrating Pride throughout the state in coming days without an order to block it, he wrote.
The order follows a lawsuit from a group of LGBT+ advocates and a transgender woman who appears to be the first person targeted by the law, which plaintiffs called “a Frankenstein’s monster” and a “calculated” attack on LGBT+ people that “overshoots this sinister mark” and “threatens teachers, artists, small businesses, and cultural and scientific institutions with criminal and professional sanctions.”
The challengers include a public school teacher who uses colorful costumes in her lessons and a nonprofit group that advocates for LGBT+ people and drag performances. Pride organisers, several community centres, a brewery and a fitness studio also joined the challenge, which alleges that the law unconstitutionally targets “personal, artistic and political expression and speech.”
“As I said throughout the legislature, drag is art,” said Montana state Rep Zooey Zephyr, whose opposition to Republican-backed legislation against LGBT+ people this year prompted sanctions from GOP lawmakers.
“And drag bans not only infringe on free speech, but they are crafted (by design) to be so broad to allow for discrimination against trans [and] nonbinary people as well,” she added.
The lawsuit follows several federal court orders that have struck down similar laws and laws that target gender-affirming care in other states, as the battle for LGBT+ rights extends from volatile state legislative sessions into state and federal courtrooms.
This is a developing story
