Tennessee Legislature Redefines ‘Obscenity and Pornography’ to Target Drag Shows

The Tennessee legislature today passed a bill expanding the state’s definition of “obscenity and pornography” to criminalize anyone who “engages in an adult cabaret performance on public property or in a location where the adult cabaret performance could be viewed by a person who is not an adult.”

SB0003’s redefinition of “adult cabaret performance” was crafted by Republican legislators specifically to target drag shows, although the actual phrasing is expansive enough to criminalize many other trans-inclusive public events, such as LGBTQ Pride Parades.

The wording of the bill also appears to criminalize any performance by any person not presenting as their assigned-at-birth gender that does not take place in a venue or location explicitly zoned as an “adult cabaret.”

There are currently more than 20 Republican bills nationwide purportedly aiming to “ban drag shows for children.” Tennessee’s bill is the first one to clear both chambers of a state legislature and head to the governor’s desk.

Rep. Chris Todd (R), the main sponsor of HB0009, the House version of SB0003, explained that his bill was prompted by…

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