Tennessee Trump-Appointed Judge Blocks Ban on Kids at Drag Shows
This demonstrates the differences between the GOP’s two leading presidential candidates.
A federal judge is blocking a Tennessee state law banning drag shows for children while other states advance similar legislation. Trump-appointed District Court Judge Thomas Parker ruled last week that Tennessee’s new law prohibiting the presence of children at drag and other sexually explicit shows was unconstitutional. Parker wrote that “Tennessee’s compelling interest in protecting the psychological and physical wellbeing of children” was trumped by what he called the law’s “unconstitutional restriction on the freedom of speech.” The legislation was signed into law in March by Republican Gov. Bill Lee.
READ MORE: On Drag Queens and the Methodist Breakup
Other states have advanced similar legislation, including Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia. Most legislation of this sort would jail drag performers for allowing children to attend shows and would require violators to register as sex offenders.
The Tennessee law was struck down after Friends of George’s, a self-described “LGBTQ theatre company with a mission,” complained that banning half-naked, sexually confused men from performing in front of children was hateful. In a statement, the group said, “This win represents a triumph over hate.”
Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of pro-gay-and-trans advocacy group GLAAD, praised Parker’s ruling, tweeting: “This ruling is a turning point and we will not go back. Every anti-LGBTQ elected official is on notice that these baseless laws will not stand and that our constitutional freedom of speech and expression protects everyone and propels our culture forward.” Ellis also labeled the Tennessee law “a malignant throwback to a dark and shameful time in our nation’s past.”
Tennessee’s drag ban is a malignant throwback to a dark and shameful time in our nation’s past. Historical wrongs are being reintroduced into our laws, and if not overturned will have negative effects not only on LGBTQ people and drag performers, but on countless businesses, https://t.co/x0Ua9nS6CW
— Sarah Kate Ellis (@sarahkateellis) June 3, 2023
At first, the most confusing aspect of this ruling might be that the rainbow mafia is lauding a Trump-appointed judge — until the penny drops and one asks whether a Trump-appointed judge actually said groomer drag performances for children were a matter of “freedom of speech.” Yes, he did, but that shouldn’t be a surprise.
Former President Donald Trump has been quietly supportive of the LGBT agenda, despite the vast majority of his supporters being smeared as “homophobic.” As president, he had the opportunity to target the systematic grooming of children and at least work toward banning drag queen story hours and the like, but he didn’t. His son Donald Trump Jr. has said that he’s “liberal” on transgenderism and called for an end to the Bud Light boycott. (READ MORE from S.A. McCarthy: Anti-Christian Sentiment Rises Within the ‘Conservative’ Establishment)
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned biological men from participating in women’s sports, banned teachers from talking to schoolchildren about sexual orientation or anal or oral sex or mutual masturbation, and stripped Walt Disney World of special privileges after Disney executives criticized his policies. He even threatened to build a prison next to Disney World. Last year, DeSantis openly called puberty blockers what they are — “chemical castration.”
As if to illustrate DeSantis’ conservative credentials, David Jolly, former Republican representative from Floridia and a Never Trumper, said that, from a progressive point of view, “Ron DeSantis is far more dangerous than Donald Trump” because “Trump is a transactional figure and he’ll do whatever it takes to win.” DeSantis, on the other hand, “is a cultural warrior who wants to take us back 100 years and believes he can use the Constitution to that end and ultimately has a very dark vision of what America will be.”
As department store giant Target pushes “tucking” and “binding” clothes on toddlers, as Major League Baseball continues promoting anti-Catholic hate groups to appease the LGBTQ mob, as states push forward with laws like Tennessee’s to protect children from the very real threat of grooming, and as the now-contentious Republican presidential primary inches closer and closer, authentic conservatives would do well to remember the proven record of both Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump and ask who has the nerve to stand up to the rainbow mafia.
