The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
A pair of Ohio lawmakers are once again trying to ban drag performers from performing anywhere that isn’t a designated adult entertainment facility.
Republican state Reps. Angie King, R-Celina, and Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Twp., recently introduced House Bill 249, also known as the Enact the Indecent Exposure Modernization Act.
The bill would prohibit an adult cabaret performance from taking place outside an adult cabaret. It also broadens the definition of adult cabaret performances to include “performers or entertainers who exhibit a gender identity that is different from the performer’s or entertainer’s gender assigned at birth using clothing, makeup, prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts, or other physical markers.”
The bill includes drag performers, topless dancers, go-go dancers, strippers and exotic dancers.
“I am deeply committed to protecting our children,” King said in a statement. “As a mother and as a legislator, I believe Ohio families should feel safe taking their children to a city park without the risk of coming across an event or person performing in a way that incorporates themes, imagery, and acts intended for mature audiences.”
Williams said they are seeing a trend of “indecent exposure and over-sexualized performances taking place in public in the presence of children.”
“This legislation is simply updating already existing law to the times that we are living in,” he said in a statement. “So, we want to update the obscenity law so we can ensure families and children are protected from these acts.”
H.B. 249 comes with penalties ranging from a first degree misdemeanor if a performance happens in front of a juvenile, a fifth degree felony if the performance is obscene and a fourth degree felony if the performance is obscene and happened in front of someone 12 years old and younger.
This is not the first time this bill has been introduced. King and Williams introduced a nearly identical bill during the last General Assembly, but it only had two committee hearings. The bill received lots of opposition from Ohio’s LGBTQ community.
