New York attorney general Letitia James will host a “Drag Story Hour” in Manhattan on Sunday where “families with children” are invited to watch drag performers read books for four hours.
James’s event is cosponsored by Drag Story Hour NYC, a nonprofit group that has been given hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds to send drag performers into public schools and libraries, often without parental knowledge or consent, according to the New York Post. The group received a total of $207,000 in taxpayer funds from 2018 to May 2022, the report added.
“My office is proud to host a Drag Story Hour read-a-thon,” James wrote in a post advertising the upcoming West Village event. “We’re inviting families to join us at the @lgbtcenternyc with @dragstoryhour, drag storytellers, community leaders, and elected officials.”
The growing ubiquity of drag shows in restaurants and bars, as well as “drag queen story hours” for children at public libraries, has led at least 15 states to introduce legislation banning drag shows in public venues.
Tennessee passed a law earlier this month that makes it illegal to host “an adult cabaret performance” in public venues or where children may be present. Cabaret performances are defined as those featuring “topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, [and] male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest.”
Anyone who hosts or performs in a drag show in the presence of children would be charged with a class A misdemeanor, subject to a fine of up to $2,500 and up to one year in prison under the new law. Additional violations would be escalated to a class E felony and carry one-to-six years of prison time and fines up to $3,000.
The Kentucky Senate on Friday passed a bill that would ban drag performances on public property or in front of children. Senate Bill 115, which passed in a 26–6 vote along party lines, now heads to the Republican-controlled state house.
The legislation applies toward adult performances, which are defined as a live “sexually explicit performance” involving acts of “homosexuality,” intentional “exhibition” of genitals and exposure of unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks and the female breast. The definition also includes live performance involving male or female impersonators that “appeals to a prurient interest in sexual conduct” and lacks “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”
The first two violations of the proposed law would be punishable as misdemeanors, while subsequent offenses would be felonies. Businesses that host prohibited performances could have their alcohol and business licenses suspended or revoked.