Holding Up a Mirror to Hostile Gender Legislation: The Impact of Drag Bans on the Theater Industry

States, particularly infringing upon the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community. Certain states have sought to introduce “drag ban” laws under the guise of protecting children from viewing obscene content. These laws, in effect, are harmful to people, children especially, and have a chilling effect on expression, leaving critical harm in their wake. Laws such as these cast a wide net of regulation, opening up otherwise innocent citizens to criminal and civil liability. The theater industry is particularly affected by these regulations, even if lawmakers do not acknowledge this potential harm. This article will focus on three laws seeking to regulate drag performance. Next, this article will address how these laws implicate the first amendment and infringe upon expressive conduct by chilling speech. Then, this article will discuss the economic structure of the theater industry to provide context to elucidate the potential economic and social harms that will likely result from this nature of legislation. Further, this article will explain those social and fiscal harms resulting from the legislation. Finally, this article will argue that these laws will not overcome a constitutional challenge on the basis of overbreadth and vagueness and must be struck down.