TAMPA, Fla. — The Supreme Court ruling means Florida cannot temporarily enforce a law making it a crime to allow children to attend sexually explicit adult live performances, which could include drag shows.
The law is part of the Protection of Children Act, which Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law in May but it was later blocked in district court.
State Representative Randy Fine sponsored the original bill.
He said the decision means the case will now go back to being heard in a lower court
“This was a procedural decision on whether to allow the bill to be implemented while it's being sued over. The answer is no. We are going to have the lawsuit first. So now it will go through the three levels of our judicial system, and we will see where we shake out,” said Fine.
Hamburger Mary’s in Orlando brought the lawsuit against the state.
They had hosted what they call family-friendly drag shows.
But they say the new law would deprive their business of its First Amendment rights to free expression.
Carlos Guillermo Smith is a former lawmaker who is now a senior policy advisor at Equality Florida.
He believes Hamburger Mary's will prevail in its case.
“It’s been very clear since day one that not only Gov. DeSantis but Republicans in the legislator who wrote this bill intended to target the free speech rights of drag queens and LGTBQ-owned or allied businesses,” said Guillermo Smith.
The Hamburger Mary’s locations in the Tampa Bay area also hosted drag shows, but they are no longer open.
Meanwhile, Fine said those events are not family-friendly, and the state has the right to protect children from what he calls live sex shows.
“If it was women dressed as female strippers, I would be equally offended. It has nothing to do with the fact that it's men pretending to be something they are not. It’s simply the action, whether it’s being done by a man or a woman. It’s simply not OK,” said Fine.
“I have absolutely no idea why there’s people out here so strongly advocating for children to go to drag shows,” said Jake Hoffman.
Hoffman is the executive director of the Tampa Bay Young Republicans.
He said because the Supreme Court decision is not a judgment on the law itself, he's confident it will eventually go into effect.
“I don’t think it’s a First Amendment issue. I don’t think it’s an issue of all the things you are starting to hear people talk about. It’s about why would you advocate for children to go to drag shows,” said Hoffman.
DeSantis has made issues regarding gender and sexual orientation in schools a part of his campaign platform, but Guillermo Smith said the culture wars are not helping him.
“He needs to stop obsessing over drag queens and LQTBQ people and maybe start obsessing over car and property insurance rates that are through the roof here in the state of Florida,” said Guillermo Smith.
The state has requested the Supreme Court narrow the state-wide injunction so the law could be enforced against every business except the one suing them, Hamburger Mary’s.
