GOP lawmaker wants to designate any theater with a trans actor a “sexually oriented business”

The Texas State Capitol located in Austin, Texas, United States
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

A newly introduced Texas bill, H.B. 643, would redefine any alcohol-serving venue that hosts drag or transgender performers as a “sexually oriented business.”

The bill — one of 17 anti-LGBTQ bills recently introduced by Republican state legislators — would allow the venues to face criminal penalties and possibly be shut down if they allow children to view any “performance in which a performer exhibits a gender identity that is different than the performer’s gender assigned at birth,” the bill states.

The broadly written bill would potentially punish any theater, sports venue, or restaurant that features a trans performer or displays any film or photo of a person wearing clothes not associated with their sex assigned at birth, effectively outlawing many Shakespearean plays and comedies like Mrs. Doubtfire. The law requires – not just allows – anti-LGBTQ job discrimination in the performing arts.

Venue owners who allow minors to view such performances would be charged with a Class A misdemeanor and…

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