The state Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill that would ban adult cabaret performances on public property and in private locations where a minor could see it.
The bill has drawn derision, as it labels drag performers or shows as “adult cabaret” if they appeal to prurient interest, which in a legal context means lust or sexual desire.
Opponents say the bill would result in lawsuits over how prurient is interpreted. Republican Sen. John Kavanagh disagrees.
“Prurient interest is unbelievably well defined in law, all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. It has been part of obscenity cases for decades,” Kavanagh said.
In a committee hearing Thursday, attorney Lisa Bivens said a Supreme Court justice defined obscenity as “I know it when I see it,” leaving it for police to discern.
“They are not on the Supreme Court having that same idea of it does or does not fit the bill. So what that means is you’re going to have people who fall into that arrest, and then they have to go through the legal system — thousands of dollars,” Bivens said.
Other commenters said the vague definition of drag could apply to anyone in the LGBTQ community.
