‘On edge’: Idahoans debate drag shows while hearing a bill on indecent sexual conduct
An Idaho House committee advanced a bill Wednesday that would allow parents to sue if their child was exposed to indecent sexual conduct.
The legislation’s definition of sexual conduct includes “sexually provocative dances … performed with accessories that exaggerate male or female primary or secondary sexual characteristics.”
Although the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle, said the legislation never explicitly says “drag,” much of the testimony focused on drag performances.
Idaho Family Policy Center Policy Assistant Edward Clark, who also presented the bill, passed out a petition that he said had 7,000 signatures urging the Legislature to “address the widespread problem of drag shows in public places.”
“The people of the state of Idaho recognize the importance of protecting the innocence of our children and encouraging the health of our communities,” Clark told the committee.
There are exceptions in the law for activities like school-sponsored cheerleading and dance activities because groups like Boise State University had concerns with liability, Clark said.
The legislation also contains several references to free speech court cases. Hill said the bill was “very constitutionally solid.”
The bill would apply the same standard used for daytime broadcast television, Hill said. The FCC defines indecent speech as material that “depicts or describes sexual or excretory organs or activities in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium.”
But Bob Corn-Revere, chief counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said that standard doesn’t apply to drag shows and wouldn’t prevent people from going.
“It looks like they’ve put a bunch of cases in a blender and tried to come out with a particular solution,” Corn-Revere said. “This is not a time, place, or manner restriction. This is purely regulating content.”
Lawmakers have also introduced bills about drag in past years and, in 2022, Boise’s Pride Festival postponed a Drag Kids event after several sponsors pulled out, according to previous Statesman reporting.
Emotions were high during testimony, split five in opposition and three in support.
Stefanie Fetzer, of Coeur d’Alene, said during testimony that her community has banded together each year when a local college’s club puts on an all-ages campus drag show. Fetzer said each year the event is canceled or revised to be for those 18 years and older.
“Passing this legislation would ensure that our community need not be on edge every fall,” Fetzer said. “No one is attempting to restrict speech or artistic expression. This bill simply strives to protect our most innocent community members, our children.”
Vincent Diaz, a performer, said during testimony that of the 71 shows he did in 2023, only two of them were for all ages.
“This is targeting a niche within a niche of a small percentage of the population,” Diaz said. “It’s a made-up problem.”
