Montana residents sue their state to stop its drag ban

A transgender woman, two bookstore owners, and an educator who teaches in historical costumes are suing Montana over its law banning drag performers from reading to children. If successful, the suit could cause the law to be blocked from being enforced.

The federal lawsuit calls the law “a breathtakingly ambiguous and overbroad bill, motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ animus,” and alleges that it violates Constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection under the law.

Related:

How Tennessee’s drag performers are planning on beating the state’s draconian drag ban

While celebrities have spoken out against the ban, local queens and kings are playing the long game.

One of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs is Adria Jawort, a trans woman whose June 2 library lecture about Two-Spirit culture was canceled over fears that she might violate the law’s prohibition on any “male or female performer who adopts a flamboyant or parodic” male or feminine persona.

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At the time, Jawort wrote, “Now, what we have here is like a version of 21st Century ‘masquerade laws’ used to target trans people with back in the 1950s and 60s with [sic] to arrest them for wearing articles of clothing of the opposite ‘biological’ gender.”

The plaintiffs also include Rachel Corcoran, an educator who dresses up as “literary, historical or pop culture characters to teach special education students at a Billings high school,” PBS News Hour reported.

Corcoran said, “[I] realized [the law] was going to impact me as a teacher, specifically with dressing up for school days or how I wanted to run a classroom or celebrate for homecoming.”

The lawsuit’s other plaintiffs include businesses, organizations, and community centers that host all-ages drag events and also an independent theater that may show PG-13 or R-rated films. Such films could violate the law’s prohibition against “sexually oriented performances” in front of minors.

Montana’s law is unique compared to other states’ drag bans in that it specifically bans both drag queens and drag kings from reading in front of children.

Groups that host such performances can face fines. Organizers of such performances can be sued by the minors who viewed them up to 10 years after the performances (even if the minor’s parents approved of their viewing). Educators who violate the law risk suspension and having their educational credentials revoked.

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Braxton Mitchell (R), defended his law by asking, “Why do these people want to dress half-naked and read books to kids? Never got a single answer.” Drag performers at story hours do not dress half-naked.

Federal judges have blocked drag bans from going into effect in Tennessee and Florida, stating that they violate people’s rights to free speech.