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| Florida Governor Ron DeSantis |
In court decisions on Monday and Tuesday, drag queens and Pride organizers won over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the state of Florida and a city in Florida.
From CBS News:
Describing the law as "substantially overbroad," a federal appeals court Tuesday upheld a preliminary injunction blocking a 2023 Florida law aimed at preventing children from attending drag shows. A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, backed the Central Florida venue Hamburger Mary's in a First Amendment challenge to the law. The state appealed in 2023 after U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell issued a preliminary injunction.
Tuesday's majority opinion said that "by providing only vague guidance as to which performances it prohibits, the act (the law) wields a shotgun when the First Amendment allows a scalpel at most." "The Constitution demands specificity when the state restricts speech," said the 81-page majority opinion, written by Judge Robin Rosenbaum and joined by Judge Nancy Abudu.
"Requiring clarity in speech regulations shields us from the whims of government censors. And the need for clarity is especially strong when the government takes the legally potent step of labeling speech 'obscene.' An 'I know it when I see it' test would unconstitutionally empower those who would limit speech to arbitrarily enforce the law. But the First Amendment empowers speakers instead. Yet Florida's Senate Bill 1438 (the law) takes an 'I know it when I see it' approach to regulating expression."
. . . The law, dubbed by sponsors the "Protection of Children" bill, sought to prevent venues from admitting children to adult live performances. It defines adult live performances as "any show, exhibition, or other presentation that is performed in front of a live audience, which, in whole or in part, depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or specific sexual activities, … lewd conduct, or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts." It would allow regulators to suspend or revoke licenses of restaurants, bars and other venues that violate the law. Also, it would prohibit local governments from issuing public permits for events that could expose children to the targeted behavior.
While the law does not specifically mention drag shows, it came after Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration cracked down on venues in South Florida and Central Florida where children attended drag shows. It also came amid a series of controversial laws passed by Republicans in Florida and other states about transgender-related issues.
Tuesday's majority opinion focused, in part, on the use of the words "lewd conduct" in the law. It said the term is overbroad and that Rosenbaum and Abudu "understand the act's prohibition on depictions of lewd conduct to reach speech that is constitutionally protected, even as to minors."
And then, courtesy of LGBTQ Nation was a decision handed down on Monday against the efforts of a city in Florida, Naples, to limit open drag performances and charge Pride organizers a $36,000 security fee:
A federal judge has approved a preliminary injunction against the city of Naples, Florida, that will allow the annual Naples Pride event to host outdoor drag performances viewable by people of all ages. The judge also ruled that the city must re-evaluate the $36,000 security permit fee that it tried to charge the event to protect it from anti-transgender protestors.
Last month, organizers of Naples Pride sued the city government after the city tried to force the event to only admit adults over the age of 18 and tried to charge event organizers a $36,000 security fee. Organizers refused, stating that all drag performances will be family-friendly and that the security fee was much more than what’s required for similarly sized events or what Pride organizers were charged since the event started in 2017.
. . .On Monday, Judge John E. Steele, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida appointed by President Bill Clinton, ruled that neither the city nor its police force can require the Pride event to move its drag show indoors.
Steele also ruled that the city must reevaluate its $36,000 security permit fees. The judge wrote that the city’s demands “threatened injury to [the Pride organizers’] First Amendment rights,” which “outweighs the harm a preliminary injunction may cause to [the city or its government].”
