Texas Judge Cites Dolly Parton Drag Show Ban Ruling [Op-Ed]

The United States was hit with a tragedy this week when beloved singer and national icon Dolly Parton died. It’s perhaps fitting that a Texas judge invoked her memory this week when blocking a law that banned drag shows in the state. 

The Hill reports that U.S. District Judge David Hittner previously ruled against Senate Bill 12 in 2023. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the ruling last year and sent it back to Hittner for reevaluation. The court told Hittner to consider the case under the precedent the Supreme Court established in 2024’s Moody v. NetChoice, which narrowed the scope of First Amendment challenges. Hittner found that the precedent didn’t impact his ruling as the law was still “unconstitutionally vague.”

“The vast majority of the law’s numerous applications violate the First Amendment because all the performances that it has an actual impact on are constitutionally protected and are targeted for prohibition based on content and viewpoint,” Hittner wrote. “Because the term ‘prurient interest in sex’ is open-ended, S.B. 12 can be used to cherry-pick particular aspects of performances that might be ‘in some sense erotic.’”

Hittner went on to give examples of performers that could be banned under the “prurient interest” label, noting people would criticize Dolly Parton “as a voluptuous sex symbol because of her big hair, flamboyant clothes and breast exposure.”

It’s fitting that Hittner cited Dolly Parton, considering her longtime support of the LGBTQ community and children’s literacy. Parton was the first to tell you she was a curvy woman. In association with her Imagination Library program, Dolly Parton would regularly read to kids, but rightfully, no one assumed that just because she looked the way she did, she was sexualizing herself to children. 

I don’t know much about Hittner, but he did say one of my favorite things when addressing people potentially offended by drag performances: “Just don’t go.”

It’s amusing to me that the ones who say they are against cancel culture are the ones who are trying to cancel free, constitutionally protected expression through legislation. If you don’t want to see a drag show, don’t go to it. It’s really that easy. 

I don’t get down with Fox News, so you know what? I don’t watch it. When I see a trailer for a movie I’m not interested in, I don’t go, “How dare they make that? I want it to fail!” I just keep it pushing, because I’m a (somewhat) well-adjusted adult with ambitions to achieve, people to love, and hobbies to enjoy. 

“Drag has always been a form of free expression, and it is a relief that the court recognized that today,” Brigitte Bandit, a plaintiff in the case, said Tuesday. “As a lifelong Texan, I’m sick of this state trying to censor art and stoke hatred and violence against drag artists and the LGBTQIA community.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he will appeal the decision and called the ruling a “flawed decision that endangers our children and is an affront to Texas values,” in a social media post.

So, according to Paxton’s actions, drag shows are more dangerous to children than giving incredibly lenient plea deals to a man charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy. Got it. 

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Texas Judge Cites Our Beloved Dolly Parton Drag Show Ban Ruling [Op-Ed] was originally published on newsone.com