The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a Tennessee law on Thursday that prohibits sexualized adult performances, including some drag shows, in public spaces and the presence of minors.
The Tennessee Adult Entertainment Act (AEA) passed in 2023, prohibits topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers or male or female impersonators from performing on public property or in the presence of minors, according to the appeals court ruling. Friends of George’s (FOG), a Memphis-based theatre group that holds risqué drag shows, challenged the AEA claiming it is unconstitutional.
The AEA prevents performances that are deemed “harmful to minors.”
The appellate court dismissed FOG’s case due to lack of standing, since the LGBTQ+ themed theater was not prosecuted under the law and did not intend to perform sexually explicit shows for children, but the court noted that the AEA is in line with the First Amendment and other case law.
“There is no constitutional interest in exhibiting indecent material to minors,” the ruling stated. “The Supreme Court’s First Amendment jurisprudence has acknowledged limitations on the otherwise absolute interest of the speaker in reaching an unlimited audience where the speech is sexually explicit and the audience may include children.”
The district court initially ruled in favor of FOG when they sued Shelby County District Attorney Steven Mulroy in March 2023, permanently blocking him from enforcing it anywhere in his jurisdiction, according to the court ruling. Mulroy appealed the lawsuit, leading to the appeals court ruling which the state’s attorney general praised in a statement this week.
“As a state overflowing with world-class artists and musicians, Tennessee respects the right to free expression,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a press release. “But as the Court noted, Tennessee’s ‘harmful to minors’ standard is constitutionally sound and Tennessee can absolutely prohibit the exhibition of obscene material to children. The Court of Appeals focused on what the law actually says and ordered the case dismissed.”
FOG sells tickets to their shows without distinguishing between an adult and a minor, the court document reads. The shows themselves do not contain sexual acts but show depictions and representations of sexual conduct.
“Friends of George’s is shocked and disappointed by the decision of the 6th Circuit Court,” the group’s press liaison told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Instead of addressing the constitutionality of Tennessee’s drag ban, this ruling has left us and thousands of others in the LGBTQ+ community dangerously in limbo, with no clear answers as to how this ban will be enforced and by whom. The only thing that is clear about this law is that it’s firmly rooted in hate and defies the will of the majority of Tennesseans.”
FOG told the DCNF they vow to keep fighting what they call the “bigoted anti-trans law.”
While Tennessee upholds the drag limitations, other states like Florida struggle to keep the risqué performances away from minors. In 2023, the Supreme Court declined to reinstate Florida’s law banning children from drag shows.
FOG and the Shelby County District Attorney’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
