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   NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday dismissed a   
   lawsuit challenging first-in-the-nation law designed to place strict limits   
   on drag shows, reversing a lower court ruling that deemed the statute   
   unconstitutional and blocked its enforcement in part of the state.   
      
   The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Memphis-based LGBTQ+   
   theater company that filed the complaint last year lacked the legal right to   
   sue over the law.   
      
   Friends of George’s had alleged that the law would negatively affect them   
   because they produce “drag-centric performances, comedy sketches, and   
   plays”   
   with no age restrictions.   
      
   However, the federal appeals court found that Friends of George’s was not at   
   risk of violating the 2023 law because its performances were not “harmful to   
   minors.”   
      
   Tennessee’s Republican-dominated Legislature advanced the anti-drag law last   
   year with the support of Republican Gov. Bill Lee. Several GOP members   
   pointed to drag performances in their hometowns as reasons why it was   
   necessary to restrict such performances from taking place in public or where   
   children could view them.   
      
   Yet the actual word “drag” doesn’t appear in the statute. Instead,   
   lawmakers   
   changed the state’s definition of adult cabaret to mean “adult-oriented   
   performances that are harmful to minors.” Furthermore, “male or female   
   impersonators” were classified as a form of adult cabaret, akin to strippers   
   or topless dancers.   
      
   The law banned adult cabaret performances on public property or anywhere   
   minors might be present. Performers who break the law risk being charged   
   with a misdemeanor or a felony for a repeat offense.   
      
   In Thursday’s ruling, the justices stressed that term “harmful to minors”   
   has a specific definition under Tennessee law — which has three components   
   that must be met in order to prosecute. The ruling also pointed out that the   
   Tennessee Supreme Court limited the definition of “harmful to a minor” to   
   materials lacking “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific   
   value for a reasonable 17-year-old minor.”   
      
   “FOG has not alleged that its performances lack serious value for a 17-   
   year-old. In fact, it insists the exact opposite. Its own witness, a member   
   of FOG’s board, conceded that its shows ‘are definitely appropriate’ for   
   a   
   15- year-old and would ‘absolutely’ have artistic value for a   
   17-year-old,”   
   the ruling stated.   
      
   Friends of George’s did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment   
   on the ruling.   
      
   Questions over how Tennessee’s anti-drag ban should be enforced have   
   constantly been debated since the law’s inception. Democrats, who hold only   
   a sliver of power in Tennessee, were quick to argue that the law was too   
   vague and could be used by a prosecutor to target the LGBTQ+ community.   
      
   While a federal judge last June sided with Friends of George’s that the law   
   was “substantially overbroad” and encouraged “discriminatory   
   enforcement,”   
   the ruling only applied to Shelby County, where Memphis lies.   
      
   Shortly after, a district attorney warned Pride organizers in eastern   
   Tennessee that he planned on enforcing the anti-drag ban during their annual   
   festival, prompting organizers in Blount County to sue. A federal judge   
   eventually granted a temporary restraining order preventing law enforcement   
   and the district attorney from the enforcing the state law.   
      
   Similar to other Republican-led states, Tennessee’s Republican supermajority   
   has repeatedly passed laws over the years targeting transgender people and   
   the LGBTQ+ community.   
      
   Earlier this year, the Human Rights Campaign announced that Tennessee has   
   enacted more anti-LGBTQ+ laws more than any other state since 2015,   
   identifying more than 20 bills that advanced out of the Legislature this   
   year alone.   
      
   That included sending Gov. Lee a bill banning the spending of state money on   
   hormone therapy or sex reassignment procedures for prisoners — though it   
   would not apply to state inmates currently receiving hormone therapy — and   
   requiring public school employees to out transgender students to their   
   parents.   
      
   https://ktla.com/news/ap-us-news/ap-federal-appeals-court-dismisses-   
   lawsuit-over-tennessees-anti-drag-show-ban/   
      
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