Texas courts block drag ban while allowing trans medical ban to go into effect

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

In two separate rulings affecting LGBTQ+ rights in Texas, a federal judge has temporarily blocked the state’s drag ban from going into effect, and the conservative-led state Supreme Court has allowed the ban on gender-affirming care for minors to go into effect.

Both laws were set to go into effect on Friday.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had filed a lawsuit to challenge Senate Bill 12 on behalf of local drag performers. The law punishes drag performers and venues with a $10,000 fine if they allow a minor to see a “sexually explicit” performance. Such a performance is defined as one in which “a male performer [is] exhibiting as a female, or a female performer exhibiting as a male, who uses clothing, makeup, or other similar physical markers and who sings, lip syncs, dances, or otherwise performs before an audience.”

In his decision, District Judge David Hittner wrote, “The Court finds…

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