Tag: drag ban

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Friends of George’s to Appeal Lawsuit Dismissal

Photo: Kevin Reed

Friends of George’s, the LGBTQ theater company and nonprofit organization, has promised to appeal the 6th Circuit Court of the United States’ ruling on their recent lawsuit regarding Tennessee’s drag ban.

Last week the court reversed the U.S. District Court of the Western District’s decision to halt the enforcement of the controversial law. According to the organization the court decided in a 2-to-1 ruling that they lacked standing, which led to the lawsuit being dismissed.

Melissa Stewart, attorney for the organization, said they strongly disagree with the ruling, and the court failed to address the constitutionality of the law.

“Instead, it decided this case on procedural grounds, holding that Friends of George’s does not have standing to bring this case,” Stewart said in a statement. “As Judge [Andre] Mathis’ dissent makes clear, this decision is contrary to the 6th Circuit and Supreme Court case law.”

Judge Mathis wrote in his dissent that part of Tennessee’s Adult Entertainment Act (AEA) is an “unconstitutional content-based restriction on speech.”

“The freedom to convey one’s ideas — no matter how unpopular — was seen as inalienable to the human experience, and the Framers of our Federal Constitution believed such freedom was ‘essential if vigorous enlightenment was ever to triumph over slothful ignorance,’”  Mathis said.

Mathis went on to analyze the language of the Adult Entertainment Act which makes performing “adult cabaret entertainment” on public property or in a place that a child can view it a crime. These performances are defined as those that feature “topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators, or similar entertainers.”

The dissent went on to say that Friends of George’s has the right to sue since the law could stop them from doing their shows. The Tennessee Attorney General’s office argued that the company hasn’t been harmed by the law and can’t sue. However, Mathis argued they don’t have to be in trouble to challenge the law.

Friends of George’s was required to show that they planned to continue performances and that these productions were protected by the First Amendment. The company showed videos of their past shows which included satire of The View where performers “describ[ed] sexual acts including intercourse and masturbation,” and another video showed a group of actors satirizing a song by Meatloaf while portraying sexual acts.

While the First Amendment protects both words and actions, the “expressive conduct” must convey a clear message and be understood by the audience, which Friends of George’s productions do.

Though the district court ruled that the Adult Entertainment Act was unconstitutional as it limited free speech, Mathis argued they made a mistake by saying that Mulroy couldn’t enforce the public property clause, as the theater group could not challenge that part.

“The district court erred in enjoining Mulroy from enforcing the public-property provision of the AEA because FOG lacked standing to challenge that provision,” he said. “But the district court did not err in enjoining Mulroy from enforcing Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-51-1407(c)(1)(B) because that provision is a content-based restriction on speech that fails strict scrutiny. Thus, the district court did not abuse its discretion by prohibiting Mulroy from enforcing that unconstitutional law in Shelby County.”

As the decision leaves the law in limbo, Friends of George’s said this leaves “thousands of drag performers as well as transgender and nonbinary people across Tennessee [to] face terrifying uncertainty about the legal ramifications they could face outside the confines of 18+ or 21+ performance venues.”

Friends of George’s is preparing to host their latest production Death Drop at Hotel Le’George on August 2nd; however, they will only allow people ages 18 and up to enter.

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Tennessee Legislature Brings Endless Parade of Lawsuits

Moth Moth Moth via Facebook

Under Republican Gov. Bill Lee and supermajority GOP control, Tennessee is tied up in a wide range of legal battles, some on hot-button social questions and others that are reshaping the state’s relationship with local governments, mainly Metro Nashville.

In his fifth year as governor, Lee is no stranger to lawsuits and considers the sprawling list of cases the cost of doing business. 

“It’s what happens in government,” Lee says. “You pass laws, sometimes they’re challenged, sometimes they’re upheld. It’s kind of par for the course for what happens in government. That’s what happens in Tennessee as well.”

The Legislature’s critics, mainly Democrats, point out, though, the governor and the Legislature have a tendency to “pass lawsuits” instead of bills. 

It’s what happens in government. You pass laws, sometimes they’re challenged, sometimes they’re upheld. It’s kind of par for the course for what happens in government. That’s what happens in Tennessee as well.

– Gov. Bill Lee

State Sen. London Lamar, chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus, sees a trend with the governor and Legislature and notes even when supermajority Republicans are aware of constitutional questions surrounding a bill, they push the measure knowing it is likely to fail in court.

“This is a waste of taxpayer money in efforts to score political points,” the Memphis Democrat says.

The Legislature is accustomed to paying the cost of legal battles, even though it rarely, if ever, debates the matter on the House or Senate floor. The General Assembly put $7 million in the Attorney General’s Office budget two years ago for special litigation and continues to circle the wagons each year, injecting $4.3 million for special litigation into the fiscal 2024 budget, up from $290,000 just a few years ago.

In the most recent ruling to go awry for the state, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Parker overturned a ban on drag shows held on public property and in front of minors, finding the law to be overly broad and unconstitutional. Lee distanced himself from the matter this week, saying he doesn’t plan to discuss the outcome with Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, while also saying he would have to consult with the state’s top attorney on how district attorneys general statewide might enforce the law.

State government vs. local government

That court decision came on the heels of a ruling by a three-judge panel that temporarily blocked a law cutting the Metro Council to 20 from 40 members. The Legislature set up the judicial panels in the previous session to handle constitutional challenges and redistricting questions, mainly in an effort to remove legal matters from Davidson County judges considered too liberal for a conservative-minded General Assembly. Judges from all three grand divisions of the state are appointed to hear those cases.

A decision also is pending in two lawsuits filed against the state over a law reducing the number of votes needed by the Metro Council to make changes to the Metro Fairgrounds. Lawmakers passed the measure leading up to a vote by Metro on plans by Bristol Motor Speedway to build a 30,000-seat NASCAR track. Metro Council members Colby Sledge, Bob Mendes and Sandra Sepulveda filed their lawsuit after the Metro Legal Department staked its own claim, seeking to enjoin the law based on a violation of the state’s Home Rule provision, which is supposed to stop lawmakers from targeting single cities.

The Metro Legal Department also is considering filing suit against the state over two other laws directly affecting the way Metro works. Both give the state appointments to Metro airport and sports authorities.

The laws aimed at Metro Nashville are believed to stem from the council’s refusal to sign a contract to lure the Republican National Convention to Nashville in 2024.

Trial also is pending in a legal challenge of the Legislature’s 2022 redistricting maps, going after both the Senate and House designs. Plaintiffs argue the Senate maps violate the state Constitution because the Davidson County districts aren’t numbered consecutively. The state contends the litigant, Francie Hunt, doesn’t have the legal standing to file suit because she can’t prove “actual injury.”

The lawsuit attacks the House plan by claiming controlling Republicans should have drawn maps that split less than 30 counties, the upper end allowed by federal law.  

Families of transgender kids take on the state

In yet another culture war, the families of transgender children and the federal government sued the state, challenging a new law banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth. The measure was the first bill filed for this year’s session after video surfaced of a Nashville doctor saying those procedures are “huge money makers.” Lawmakers hammered Vanderbilt University Medical Center last year for its transgender care.

The new law prohibits physicians from prescribing puberty blockers or hormones and performing other gender-affirming procedures for minors. Previously, state law blocked gender-affirming treatment for prepubescent children.

The state, however, has a weak record on transgender-related bills. In 2022, a federal judge overturned a state law requiring businesses to post a government-prescribed sign if they allow transgender people to use their restrooms. 

Courts also rejected a voter registration law in 2020 designed to stop groups from turning in large numbers of applications that weren’t filled out properly. 

And in a strange twist, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti reached an agreement with a California group that sued the state over its permit-less carry law, allowing the measure to apply to 18- to 20-year-olds, not just those 21 and up. Gov. Lee and several key lawmakers support keeping the age limit at 21.

One of the few legal victories for the state came when the Tennessee Supreme Court found Gov. Lee’s education savings account program to be constitutional in 2022 after a three-year fight, overruling two lower courts.

The state’s highest court didn’t rule on whether the provision, which affected only Davidson and Shelby county school districts at the time, violated the Home Rule provision, which requires a referendum or vote by a local governing body to approve a state law. 

Instead, a majority of the five-member court agreed with the state’s argument that the act didn’t apply to the plaintiffs, Davidson and Shelby, because it governed only the local school districts. 

In fact, the state is making a practice of claiming plaintiffs in lawsuits against Tennessee don’t have standing to sue.

Besides taking that stance in the voucher and redistricting cases, state attorneys argued the Memphis group, Friends of George’s, didn’t have standing to challenge the state’s drag show law because its shows weren’t risque enough to violate the state’s standards for minors, according to the Tennessee Journal.

(Republicans’) motto is to legislate through lawsuits. And it shows that they’re out of touch with the people and reality because the supermajority allows them to make laws regardless of any conversation or compromise. They just do it because they can.

– Rep. Vincent Dixie, D-Nashville

State Rep. Vincent Dixie contends the Legislature puts the Attorney General’s Office in difficult situations.

“Their motto is to legislate through lawsuits. And it shows that they’re out of touch with the people and reality because the supermajority allows them to make laws regardless of any conversation or compromise. They just do it because they can,” says Dixie, a Nashville Democrat.

The court system offers the only “checks and balances,” Dixie says. 

Meanwhile, the Tennessee Justice Center is pursuing a legal challenge of the state’s TennCare waiver, a “modified block grant” using shared savings with the federal government to fund the state’s Medicaid program for the poor and elderly. The case is on hold as the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is the defendant in the case, reviews revisions the state submitted last August and will decide whether to reaffirm approval or disallow parts of the program.

Former President Donald Trump’s administration approved the waiver just days before he left office in 2021.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.

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Federal Judge Rules Tennessee Drag Ban as Unconstitutional

Photo credit: Kevin Reed

U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker has ruled that the Tennessee law that bans “adult cabaret performances” is unconstitutional.

In March, Friends of George’s, an LGBTQ theater company at the Evergreen Theatre, filed a suit against the state of Tennessee regarding what they called the “reckless anti-drag law.” The law was temporarily blocked shortly after, as it was set to go into effect on April 1st.

Parker granted a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against District Attorney Steve Mulroy, the state of Tennessee, Governor Bill Lee, and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti.

The Friends of George’s suit stated the law violated the group’s First Amendment rights and argued the statute is unconstitutional.

“After considering the briefs and evidence presented at trial, the Court finds that — despite Tennessee’s compelling interest in protecting the psychological and physical wellbeing of children — the Adult Entertainment Act (“AEA”) is an unconstitutional restriction on the freedom of speech and permanently enjoins Defendant Steven Mulroy from enforcing the unconstitutional statute,” said court documents.

The court stated that not only is the AEA “unconstitutionally vague” but is “substantially overbroad,” specifically in its language regarding what is “harmful to minors.”

The law defined adult cabaret performances as those that feature “topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, and male or female impersonators.” It also stated that these performances were “harmful to minors.” The law made “adult cabaret performances” on public property or “in a location where the adult cabaret performance could be viewed by a person who is not an adult” a criminal offense.

The Tennessee General Assembly defined “harmful to minors” as “that quality of any description or representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual excitement, sexual conduct, excess violence, or sadomasochistic abuse when the matter or performance would be found by the average person applying contemporary community standards to appeal predominantly to the prurient, shameful or morbid interests of minors.”

“The AEA’s ‘harmful to minors’ standard applies to minors of all ages so it fails to provide fair notice of what is prohibited, and it encourages discriminatory enforcement. The AEA is substantially overbroad because it applies to public property or ‘anywhere’ a minor could be present,” said the ruling.

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Tennessee Drag Law Blocked By Federal Judge

Friends of George's. Photo Credit: Kevin Reed

Tennessee’s “anti-drag” law has temporarily been blocked by a federal judge. The law was set to go into effect on April 1st.

The judge sided with Memphis-based theater group, Friends of George’s, who filed the lawsuit against Shelby County District Attorney, Steve Mulroy. The Friends of George’s suit stated that the law violated the group’s First Amendment rights, and argued that the statute is unconstitutional.

“A drag queen wearing a mini-skirt and a cropped top and dancing in front of children violates this statute, but a Tennessee Titans cheerleader wearing precisely the same outfit doing precisely the same routine does not, because she is not a ‘female impersonator,” said the complaint. “The prohibited speech is defined by the identity of the drag performer – and the message he conveys. That is a content-based restriction of speech protected by the First Amendment.”

While the law does not explicitly say “drag performers,” it defines adult cabaret performances as those that feature “ topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, and male or female impersonators. The law makes “adult cabaret performances” on public property or “in a location where the adult cabaret performance could be viewed by a person who is not an adult,” a criminal offense.  

U. S. District Judge Thomas L. Parker granted a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Mulroy, the state of Tennessee, Governor Bill Lee, and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. The order is good for 14 days from March 31st, 2023. 

“If Tennessee wishes to exercise its police power in restricting speech it considers obscene it must do so within the constraints and framework of the United States Constitution.,” said Parker in the order. “The Court finds that, as it stands the record here suggests that when the legislature passed this Statute, it missed the mark.”

Friends of George’s argued that the language is too broad, and the court agreed.

“What exactly is a location on public property or a location where adult cabaret entertainment could be viewed by a person who is not an adult,” said Parker in the document. “Does a citizen’s private residence count? How about a camping ground at a national park? What if a minor browsing the worldwide web from a public library views an ‘adult cabaret performance’? Ultimately the Statute’s broad language clashes with the First Amendment’s tight constraints.”

According to a statement from Friends of George’s, they are set to return to court before their next  production on April 14th.

“We won because this is a bad law,” said Mark Campbell, president of the board of directors for Friends of George’s. “We look forward to our day in court, where the rights for all Tennesseans will be affirmed.”

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LGBTQ Theater Company Sues to End Drag Ban

Friends of George's. Photo Credit: Kevin Reed

Friends of George’s, an LGBTQ theater company at the Evergreen Theatre, has filed a suit against the state of Tennessee regarding what is being called the “reckless anti-drag law.”

The organization announced on its Instagram page that the bill “imperils the lives of drag performers and seeks to oppress queer culture state-wide.”

“We believe that the act of drag challenges traditional societal structures while also providing a medium to connect with others in a celebratory and avant-garde manner,” the statement said. “We refuse to sit silently in the shadows while the government attempts to  strip away our right to free speech and expression.”

The post said the suit is filed against the state of Tennessee in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

The organization was founded in 2010, and according to Mark Campbell, president of Friends of George’s, is a drag-based theater company that hosts shows similar to Saturday Night Live, with lip-synch performances and occasional live vocals.

Drag has long been essential to the dramatic arts. Campbell says that in Shakespearean times, women were not allowed to perform in theaters, so men were cast in those roles.

Campbell says this bill is an attack on the LGBTQ community that considers drag an art form. With drag having such a heavy influence on theater, the bill has drawn criticism nationally as well, with groups like the Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), a labor union representing live theatrical performances, rejecting the law and “lobbying for its elimination.”

“We want to be extremely clear that performing artists across our country are protected from government overreach by the First Amendment,” AEA said in a statement. “For centuries performers have worn costumes that society deems inconsistent with the sex they were assigned at birth.”

Many worry that this law will affect performances of shows such as Hairspray, Kinky Boots, and Mrs. Doubtfire. Actors who play these roles would be considered “male or female impersonators,” who are classified under “adult cabaret performances.” The bill says that such performances cannot be on public property and cannot be viewed by anyone who is underage.

Campbell explained that the shows performed at Friends of George’s heavily feature drag performers, male and female. 

“This is basically a First Amendment case and our right to self expression, trying to dictate how someone dresses,” said Campbell. “If I, as a grown man, were to dress in the same manner as the Grizz Girls, and give the exact same performance, my performance would be illegal and deemed harmful to children, while theirs wouldn’t.”

While Campbell understands that the majority of the Tennessee legislature voted to  pass the bill, he said that he does not believe that this is reflective of Tennessee residents.

“I know a lot of conservative people. People who vote for Republican presidential candidates and Republican legislators and stuff, but a lot of those people come to our shows, and bring their kids occasionally” said Campbell. “I’ve spoken to those people, and they’re as appalled as I am. They’ve seen what we do, and the creativity that we put into it, and the causes that we support, and I just hope that everybody will talk to their friends, tell them about us, and what it’s really about, and the self expression that we put into it.”

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Riot Drag Show To Support LGBTQ+ Community

Moth Moth Moth via Facebook

Bricks have become symbolic for the LGBTQ+ community. However, Hunny Blunt, a 27-year-old local drag performer in Memphis, tells the Flyer that it isn’t a violent symbol, but rather one that bears meaning and is representative of an ongoing struggle present in the community.

Blunt explains that the brick symbolism dates back to the Stonewall riots in New York City in 1969, a pivotal moment in LGBTQ history. “When we hold a brick in the air, we’re not necessarily threatening violence or inciting any sort of damage,” Blunt explains. “What we are doing is really paying homage to the fact that we were so repressed that we literally had to fight back with bricks.”

Hunny Blunt, like many others in the LGBTQ+ community, has been fighting back in a number of ways over the past few months. Most recently Governor Bill Lee signed legislation that will negatively impact members of the LGBTQ+ community. Some of these bills include Senate Bill 3 and Senate Bill 1.

Opponents of the legislation say it serves as an attempt to erase LGBTQ+ culture from Tennessee. 

“You read the wording of some of these bills and it’s so hateful. I can’t believe nobody said ‘This is a little too much,’”  said Jenna Lee Dunn. Dunn serves as the trans services specialist for OUTMemphis, and recently started Jenna On Fire Productions, LLC. “There is no line or boundary with these people. They’re just hateful. They want to get rid of us completely.”

Members of the LGBTQ+ community have decided that they will not go quietly and are planning to take an active stance against the legislation. One of these ways is through an event called “Rage On The Stage: Trans Day of Visibility, Drag Show Riot.” The event will be held on March 30th at the Hi-Tone Cafe.

The event was created by Dunn, who invited several community partners to sponsor the event.

“We need to be seen. We need to be making noise to show how big we are in number,” says Blunt. “I think we are reaching that turning point where it does feel good to see allyship from people. It does feel good to be seen and accepted.”

Blunt explains that it is important for them to stand in solidarity, as these bills impact the community as a whole, and not just drag performers and trans youth. “A lot of these drag bans really target transgendered people who really aren’t drag performers, but are everyday transgender people” she says. “We have transgendered drag performers of course, but there are transgender people that don’t necessarily do drag, but that’s how they live their life, and these laws can really prevent them from being in any kind of safe space.

The idea of not only having a safe space, but the need to be seen and heard has been a common theme amongst participants and event organizers like Dunn, who says that there are certain places, like drag shows, where people in the community feel more comfortable. She says that her love and passion for the trans community, as well as having friends that are drag performers, has amplified her drive for wanting to put on events such as this one.

“I can’t go to Nashville and force these people to not pass these bills, and to change their minds and to stop hating people,” she says, “but what I can do is create outlets for people to be able to go and enjoy themselves and try to get some of this off of their mind.”