Florida’s attorney general on Tuesday asked the US Supreme Court to allow a law that a federal judge says amounts to a crackdown on drag shows to go back into effect while legal challenges play out.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said the law – called the state’s “Protection of Children Act” – was designed to “prevent children from being exposed to sexually explicit live performances”. The 2023 law makes it a misdemeanour to knowingly expose a child to a sexually explicit live performance by an adult that would be obscene for “the age of the child present”.
The district judge blocked the law pending appeal, saying it likely violated free speech and due process rights and was unconstitutionally vague. The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals denied Florida’s emergency request for a stay of the district court’s injunction, prompting the state to ask the Supreme Court for relief.
The law was originally challenged by a popular Orlando restaurant – Hamburger Mary’s – which hosts drag brunches and claimed that the new legislation would result in a loss of business.
Florida asked the judges to narrow the nationwide injunction to apply only to the restaurant. “Florida is now unable to enforce its statute at all, to the detriment of Florida’s children and the state’s sovereign prerogative to protect them from harm,” Moody argued.
Moody also said that Hamburger Mary’s would not be affected by the law because its shows are not sexually explicit.
The law was a priority for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
Signing the bill into law in May, the governor said the state was “proud to lead the way in standing up for our children”.
“As the world goes mad, Florida represents a sanctuary of sanity and a citadel of normalcy,” he said in a statement at the time.
The judges are expected to ask for a response from the restaurant before issuing an order.