Bringing your kid to a drag show could become a felony crime in Arizona.
Today, the state’s House Judiciary Committee will vote on House Bill 2589, a measure introduced by Rep. Michael Way (R–Queen Creek).
H.B. 2589 would create the new criminal offense of “unlawful exposure to drag show performances,” a Class 4 felony. Class 4 felonies—a category that includes robbery, forgery, some burglaries, and some types of aggravated assault—are punishable by one to three years in prison for someone with no previous felony offenses. (For those with prior felonies, punishment could be much steeper.)
Way’s bill would define “unlawful exposure to a drag show performance” as “allowing a minor under the person’s custody or control to view a drag show performance” or letting a minor “enter or remain in a building or part of a building where a drag show performance is occurring.” So, not only could a parent who took their kid to a drag show be treated the same as a burglar, but so could a parent who merely let their kids be present in a building where a drag show was taking place.
Performing a drag show in front of a minor, or allowing a minor to perform in a drag show, would also violate the proposed statute.
All in all, it’s an insane incursion on both parental rights and on minors’ First Amendment rights.
Note that the kind of content off limits to minors in this measure wouldn’t have to be racy. Nor does the measure differentiate between minors of different ages. Bringing a 5-year-old to a drag show striptease—something already off limits under other rules, mind you—would be all the same as letting a drag queen read Goodnight Moon to your child at the local library or taking a 16-year-old to an LGBTQ pride parade where people in drag might appear.
Way’s measure would define “drag show” as any in-person performance involving “a person who uses clothing, makeup, costuming, prosthetics, or other physical markers to present an exaggerated and stylized gender expression that differs from the person’s biological sex or normal gender presentation.”
That definition could even be broad enough to encompass a show that merely featured a transgender person.
A drag show could also—but would not need to—involve…
Why would you want to bring your kid to a drag show anyway??