An injunction blocking Florida’s law restricting drag performances applies to all venues in the state — not just to the restaurant that challenged the ban — a federal judge said Wednesday.
Dubbed “Florida’s anti-drag ban,” the legislation threatens Pride events and small businesses with criminal penalties for allowing minors to watch certain drag performances even with a parent’s approval. Venues that violate the ban could face fees or have their liquor licenses revoked.
Passage of the bill — one of several measures restricting the rights of LGBTQ people passed by Florida’s Republican-led legislature this year — brought hundreds of drag performers and their allies, including some Democratic lawmakers, to Tallahassee for a protest on the steps of the Florida State Capitol on April 25.
In May, just days after DeSantis signed the bill into law, the owner of the Orlando location of Hamburger Mary’s, a drag-themed restaurant, sued the state over the ban, claiming the law violates First Amendment rights.
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U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell in June granted a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the state from enforcing the law.
Jeremy Redfern, DeSantis’ press secretary, said in a statement that the administration believed the judge’s opinion was “dead wrong,” adding the state “looked forward to prevailing on appeal.”
Attorneys for the state told the judge the injunction should only apply to the Orlando restaurant, but he rejected their argument.
“Plaintiff is not the only party suffering injury as a result of the passage of the Act; it has a chilling effect on all members of society who fall within its reach,” Presnell wrote.
In June, a federal judge struck down a similar ban in Tennessee, saying the first-in-the-nation legislation violated First Amendment rights.
Judge Thomas Parker, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, said the law — which would severely restrict drag performances — was “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad.”
With News Wire Services