Florida is appealing to the Supreme Court for a ruling that would prevent children from attending drag shows.
The state’s Protection of Children Act allows for fines or the revocation of licenses for establishments that “knowingly” admit minors to “adult live performances.”
Live performances that depict or simulate nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or specific sexual activities; lewd conduct; or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts are considered “adult live performances” under the law.
A federal court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the statute in June after an Orlando restaurant named Hamburger Mary’s filed a lawsuit alleging that it violates the First Amendment.
The restaurant defends its drag brunches by claiming that the government is unfairly targeting them.
As the lawsuit progresses, the state has requested that the injunction be limited to Hamburger Mary’s.
Florida Secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation Melanie Griffin reportedly made an emergency application to Justice Clarence Thomas that the legislation be reinstated pending the outcome of the state’s case.
“Florida is now unable to enforce its statue at all, to the detriment of Florida’s children and the State’s sovereign prerogative to protect them from harm,” Moody argued.
“Hamburger Mary’s has not alleged, much less proven, that application of the Protection of Children Act to others in the State of Florida will cause actual or imminent injury to Hamburger Mary’s itself. It was a serious error for the district court nonetheless to enjoin the statute as it may apply to the rest of the world,” the state’s court filings say.
According to a story in The Hill, Justice Thomas might decide the motion on his own or submit it to the whole court.
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