Representative Lanny Fite speaks at the Saline County Legislative Breakfast on Feb. 3.
Destin Davis
Republican State Representatives R.J. Hawk and Lanny Fite both defended the “drag show” bill that has been passed by the Arkansas Senate at the Saline County Legislative Breakfast on Friday.
The legislation has received national attention and drawn criticism from LGTBQ and human rights groups.
Hawk said during the breakfast that bill came about because drag queens went into a public library and “started gyrating in front of kids.”
“That’s the whole reason this got brought about and do we want that happening in Arkansas? Do we want that happening in our libraries or public spaces in Arkansas? I think that for most people in this room the answer is no. So this bill that Mary Bentley has put out, yes it does protect our kids,” said Hawk.
When asked if there was a problem with drag performances occurring around children in Arkansas, Hawk said there was not, but that it has happened in surrounding states and that is why the bill was brought up.
Amendments to the bill were approved by the House of Representatives committee on city, county and local affairs last week. The amended bill passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday and will now return the Senate.
The amendments removed the phrase “drag show” from the law. The legislation now defines “adult-oriented performance” as a “performance that is intended to appeal to the prurient interest and that features: A person who appears in a state of nudity or seminude. The purposeful exposure, whether complete or partial, of: a specific anatomical area: or prosthetic genitalia or breasts or a specific sexual activity.”
The bill also states that adult-oriented performances shall not take place on public property, admit any minor for attendance or be funded in whole in part with public funds.
While the phrase “drag show” was removed from the bill, local legislators still referenced “drag queens” when defending the pending legislation at Friday’s breakfast.
Fite said the amendments were added to the bill at the recommendation of Attorney General Tim Griffin to help the bill make it through the courts.
Fite said the amendments eliminated the word drag queen but that “you know that it’s drag queen the way that it identifies.” He said it passed along party lines in the committee and will pass along party lines in the house as well, which it did.
“We got to see drag queens up at the capital, there was a lot of them. I tell you this, if you got an issue I encourage you to show up at the capitol,” Fite added.
In a Feb. 2 news release, the Arkansas ACLU said while the bill no longer explicitly targets LGBTQ people, it still applies to every person in Arkansas in “overly broad ways that clearly violate the First Amendment.”
“SB43 still curbs free speech and expression so much that it could prevent some mainstream artists from performing on public property, and make it illegal for Arkansans to attend those performances. It still inherently invites abuse in enforcement, especially considering the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric from sponsors and supporters of the bill. “
Before amendments, the bill originally classified “drag performances” as an “adult-oriented business” and as “a performance in which one or more performers exhibits a gender identity that is different form the performer’s gender assigned at birth using clothing, makeup or other accessories that are traditionally worn by members of and are meant to exaggerate the gender identity of the performer's opposite sex.”
