Appeals court upholds Florida law banning kids from drag shows

Florida’s law barring restaurants and other establishments from letting children attend drag shows will stand after an appeals court ruled the statute constitutional earlier this week. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals released an 8-5 ruling on Tuesday, asserting that Florida’s Protection of Children Act did not violate the Constitution.

Gov. Ron DeSantis enacted the 2023 law to protect children from live adult performances that contained sexual or lewd behavior. Hamburger Mary’s, a local business, challenged the law, arguing that the law violated Floridians’ First Amendment rights to free speech. The lawsuit kickstarted a years-long court battle that ping-ponged up to the Supreme Court and back.

What about the earlier temporary hold on the law? The 11th Circuit Court initially ordered a preliminary injunction on the law, temporarily barring the state from enforcing the statute in June 2023. The state appealed the temporary ruling to the Supreme Court, arguing that the injunction should only stop the law from being applied against Hamburger Mary’s—not pause enforcement across the state. However, justices denied the request, noting that Florida had not asked it to rule on the injunction itself and not how broadly the injunction may be applied.

What does the latest ruling do? The 11th Circuit’s Tuesday order found that Hamburger Mary’s objection to the state law failed to establish a likelihood of success on the merits. The business mainly took issue with the law’s breadth, arguing that it was vague and overreaching. The Florida Supreme Court defined the terms “lewd” and “child’s age” as used in the law, undermining Hamburger Mary’s argument that the law was overbroad and vague, according to the circuit court’s order.

A law protecting kids shouldn’t be controversial, DeSantis wrote in a Tuesday statement about the new ruling. Data from the Movement Advancement Project, a pro-LGBT group, identified Florida as one of four states with laws regulating adult performance. Montana and Tennessee remained the only states explicitly banning children from drag performances and so-called story hours with men in drag, according to the group.