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UPDATE: Tennessee anti-Drag Bill Lawsuit to be filed this week! [1]
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Date: 2023-03-05
It's time to make a federal case out of attempts to throw people in jail for drag performances.
Two weeks ago, I announced that my close friend and ally Hannah Miyamoto would file a lawsuit against Tennessee for preventing her from presenting her play, “Twelve Nights with Viola & Olivia” in Tennessee because of its LGBTQ-positive message and its use of cross-gender casting; the play calls for mostly female actors to play most of the male roles.
At the time, the Tennessee senate had just passed the bill, and Governor Lee was expected to sign it, but there was a chance that the brain in his head would convince him to veto this unconstitutional bill. He signed it last Thursday, although few media outlets—including Daily Kos—reported it.
After doing some more legal research Hannah and I have found that the new law violates the U.S. Constitution and is inconsistent with existing federal laws against distributing obscene material to youths on three major grounds.
1. The Tennessee law prohibits 16 and 17 year-old youths from viewing performances that “appeal to a prurient interest," when federal law only prohibits viewing obscene materials by youths under age 16.
2. The Tennessee law includes no requirement that the prohibited material present sexual topics in a "patently offensive" manner. That's particularly important because Twelve Nights with Viola & Olivia never mentions genitalia, and the only sexual acts mentioned are kissing and a single mention of "dyking.”
3. The Tennessee law--and this is most important of all—includes no requirement that the prohibited material lacks "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.” Twelve Nights with Viola & Olivia was written at Minnesota State University, Mankato, when Hannah was earning her master's degree in Women's Studies. The play focuses on a question literary critics since Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) have asked: Why, after rejecting all men, does Olivia falls in love with a girl that is pretending to be a boy? Or perhaps more importantly, why did Shakespeare write a play that doesn't criticize same-sex relationships? (At least two in Twelfth Night; also Celia’s love for Rosalind and Phoebe's love for Rosalind, when disguised as a man, in "As You Like It"). Unfortunately, the new Tennessee law does not account for the intellectual importance of the work.
As for standing, yes, Hannah has standing to bring her suit in her home state of California.
Hannah expects to file her lawsuit early this week, after she prepares a media release announcing her action and begins developing a video explaining her case on YouTube. For the latest information, follow her on Instagram and subscribe to her YouTube channel.
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[1] Url:
https://dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/5/2156433/-UPDATE-Tennessee-anti-Drag-Bill-Lawsuit-to-be-filed-soon
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