Idaho House passes bill restricting minors from attending drag shows with 'sexual conduct'
The Idaho House of Representatives voted to pass a bill restricting the performance of public live drag shows that contain “sexual conduct” as opponents worried that passing the bill jeopardizes all live performance art across the state.
Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, and the Idaho Family Policy Center, a conservative Christian organization, are pushing House Bill 265. Representatives from the Idaho Family Policy Center said they wrote the bill in response to drag shows held at Pride festivals in Coeur d’Alene and Boise last year. Organizers of Boise Pride originally planned a kids drag show in 2022 but canceled it out of safety concerns after Idaho Republican Party officials called on businesses to boycott Boise Pride.
If passed into law, House Bill 265 does a couple of things:
It requires organizers and promoters of live shows that feature “sexual conduct” must take reasonable steps to restrict minors from attending the shows, such as checking IDs. Children who are exposed to such shows or their parents would have four years to sue for $10,000 for each violation of the bill.
The bill also prevents such live shows from taking place at public facilities or city, county or state-owned parks, venues or performing arts centers. Instead, such shows would have to take place on private property, even if minors are restricted from attending. Staging such shows in public facilities would be criminalized as a misuse of public funds.
https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/idaho-house-passes-bill-restricting-minors-attending-drag-shows-sexual-conduct
