Texas has spent years trying to protect kids from explicit sex shows. After an activist judge overturned these protections again, the Lone Star State must stand its ground for the sake of its kids and the nation.
Texas lawmakers passed Senate Bill 12 in 2023, banning sexual performances in front of minors or on public property. The measure grew from national concerns over sexually explicit drag shows with kids present. Legacy media have since smeared Texas’ law as a “drag show ban,” but that is far from the truth. It’s only a “ban” on men dressing as women and taking off their clothes in front of kids, and in some cases, on public property.
As an example to the rest of America, Texas must hold the line.
“Governor [Greg] Abbott signed Senate Bill 12 to keep children from being exposed to sexually explicit performances,” the governor’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, told the Daily Signal. “The State of Texas will continue to defend this commonsense law that protects minors.”
When U.S. District Judge David Hittner struck down Texas’ protections, he called them an “unconstitutional restriction on free speech.” Specifically, he claimed the bill was too open-ended or “unconstitutionally vague.”
To prove his point, he referenced the late “Queen of Country Music,” Dolly Parton, saying some would consider her a “voluptuous sex symbol because of her big hair, flamboyant clothes, and breast exposure.” Needless to say, Texas’ law wasn’t targeting Dolly Parton. It was targeting sexual performances with nudity or sexual conduct that “appeals to the prurient interest in sex.”
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“Because the term ‘prurient interest in sex’ is open-ended, SB 12 can be used to cherry-pick particular aspects of performances that might be ‘in some sense erotic,’” Hittner claimed, according to USA Today. Never mind the fact that, to this day, the U.S. Supreme Court uses “prurient interest” to mark the difference between free expression and obscenity—and it has done so for years.
“Sex and obscenity are not synonymous,” Justice William Brennan Jr. wrote in Roth v. United States. “Obscene material is material which deals with sex in a manner appealing to prurient interest.”
In other words: Texas’ law falls straight in line with the U.S. Supreme Court. Still, Hittner claimed, “The solution is relatively simple … just don’t go.” But a 6-year-old child brought to a drag show by an activist parent doesn’t have that luxury. That’s why Texas passed this bill: not to protect adults from being offended, but to protect kids.
States like Tennessee and Ohio have passed similar laws to protect kids, but they have been besieged by legal challenges from activists.
American law already recognizes children can be treated differently from adults when sexual material is involved. States impose age restrictions on pornography and sexually oriented businesses, just as they establish age limits for everything from alcohol and tobacco to gambling. The fact that an adult has a right or liberty does not automatically mean the government must provide access to a child.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has said the state will appeal the latest decision. “This is a profoundly flawed decision that endangers our children and is an affront to Texas values,” he said. “I will appeal this decision immediately and continue to fight to protect our kids.”
Other states seeking to protect children should be watching. If Texas continues defending its authority to keep sexually oriented performances away from children, it can provide a model for other states seeking to establish similar protections.
Supporters of SB 12 have common sense on their side. If children are the future, state officials should act like it.
We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.
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