ORLANDO, Fla. – A federal judge is now mulling over whether to stop a new Florida law from taking effect that some say targets drag performances.
Hamburger Mary’s filed a lawsuit against the State of Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation on May 22.
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They claim the new law, dubbed “The Protection of Children Act,” violates the first amendment right to free speech and is overly vague.
The restaurant’s attorneys filed a motion for an injunction, which would stop the law from taking effect while the lawsuit challenging its constitutionality proceeds through the court.
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Hamburger Mary’s enlisted the assistance of a pair of attorneys who just won a similar case in Tennessee just last week.
Brice Timmons and Melissa Stewart represented Friends of George’s in their case against the State of Tennessee, which not only won an injunction, a Trump-appointed federal judge ruled that case unconstitutional.
In court on Tuesday, both sides appeared before U.S. Judge Gregory Presnell to argue their case.
Timmons attacked the State of Florida’s argument that the law does not specifically target drag performers.
Even Judge Presnell pointed to the language of the law, which describes a violation as “the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts.”
“There are two groups of people in the world who wear prosthetic breasts,” Timmons told News 6 outside the courthouse. “One of them is mastectomy survivors, and I’m pretty sure that the state legislature was not targeting performers who’ve had mastectomies. The other one is drag queens and drag performers are clearly who they mean to target.”
Timmons claimed Hamburger Mary’s business and reservations have dropped 20% as a result of the new law, forcing them to change the content in some of its drag performances.
He argued too much power for interpreting some of the law was left to the people who would enforce it – police and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which oversees liquor licenses in Florida.
Attorneys for the state argued the law does not prevent drag performances from happening, and they agreed there are sections of the law that are vague.
Judge Presnell told attorneys representing the state, “There is no question to me that this targets drag performers and puts them on notice.”
He took all of the arguments under advisement and said he would issue a ruling on the injunction at a later date.
In the meantime, all sides agreed to drop Gov. Ron DeSantis and the State of Florida from the lawsuit as they do not have the power to enforce the new law.
The lawsuit now only targets DBPR and its director Melanie Griffin.
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