A new version of a bill prohibiting minors from attending drag performances is heading back to lawmakers for a final vote.
The latest version of the bill renews the policy’s ban on minors attending drag performances in public places like schools and libraries.
The bill’s sponsor Representative Braxton Mitchell, a Republican from Columbia Falls, rejected Senate amendments from last week that remove all mentions of drag, which Mitchell said could leave room for drag performances to still be allowed.
“The reason we have to specifically for school aspects - say that we’re prohibiting story hours is because all they do is call it art, that’s how they get around it,” Mitchell said.
Opponents of the bill have criticized how it conflates members of the LGBTQ+ community with sexual predators, implying every drag performance is inherently sexual in nature.
Senator Andrea Olsen, a Democrat from Missoula, opposed the bill’s latest wording saying the new definitions were far too broad, and would lead to legal challenges.
Because this really could be interpreted to be any kind of class in which you're actually developing a play, you're reading Shakespeare, you're showing movies,” Olsen said.
The bill advanced on party lines and will now go back to both the House and Senate to be considered.
