TAMPA, Fla. — Performers in Tampa are elevating cash to move to Tallahassee so to foyer towards a debatable bill a lawmaker says focuses drag shows.
Thursday Night, City Side Lounge in Tampa hosted a “Drag Is Not a Crime” fundraiser to assist duvet prices to ship contributors from the Tampa Bay drag group to Tallahassee to talk to lawmakers.
“The fact that they’re trying to shut us down, and our first amendment right to express ourselves,” performer Ericka PC stated. “It’s just not okay.”
The bill in query, HB 1423, has a model these days introduced in Florida’s House and Senate.
Both variations say that an status quo may just face fines if they permit kids right into a venue with a stay grownup efficiency that depicts or simulates acts that come with nudity, sexual behavior, sexual pleasure, lewd behavior, and/or extra.
If this bill passes and somebody knowingly we could a kid into this kind of display, they may face felony fees.
“If this bill is going into impact right here within the state of Florida, love it has within the state of Tennessee, for instance, this is only the start,” performer KC Starr stated. “This not where this bill will end.”
Last week, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed into law a bill that bans adult cabaret from public property or anywhere minors might be present, the Associated Press reports. Performers could face a misdemeanor charge, or a felony if its a repeat offense.
The bill introduced in the Florida Legislature had it’s first reading on Tuesday, and is currently in the House Commerce committee.
“You could take your child to a movie theater PG-13 and up, and they’re not going after that,” Ericka stated.
We reached out to the bill’s sponsor within the House Representative Randy Fine, to invite that query. He says this is about protective kids.
10 Tampa Bay requested Fine if there can be long run regulation, or a special model of this regulation to provide equivalent protections to kids from non-live particular subject material, similar to R-rated films.
Fine answered, “No.”
10 Tampa Bay then requested Fine why that wouldn’t be incorporated based totally on the good judgment in the back of the bill.
He answered, “Movies that show strip shows or men dressed like strippers…there are categories of movies that you can’t take children to, it’s a rating called NC-17. The focus of our bill is on drag shows. Fine went on to say, “The Supreme Court once said, ‘You know pornography when you see it, and I think it’s the case here.’”
Drag performers in Tampa say consider this is simply step one in proscribing their rights earlier than Florida lawmakers make a better effort.
“We have never been about pushing our life on someone else,” Starr stated. “We just want to be able to exist like everyone else, and we feel like that’s fair.”
Performers say the cash raised at Thursday evening’s tournament will cross towards masking their trip bills to Tallahassee so to discuss with lawmakers.
Back in December 2022, a touring Christmas-themed drag display with stops in Florida used to be underneath investigation after Florida officers claimed it used to be marketed to kids in spite of warnings on the ticketing website that the development contained grownup subject matters and unmarried minors were not allowed.
A spokesperson for Gov. DeSantis, Bryan Griffin, stated that the state on the time would “take action” towards those that divulge sexually particular task to kids, showing to seek advice from the state’s law of “exposing minors to harmful” shows and different subject material.
10 Tampa Bay’s Jordan Highsmith contributed to this newsletter.
