Alabama Senate committee amends drag performance ban over theater concerns
Sen. Chris Elliot, R-Josephine, chair of the Senate County and Municipal Government Committee, listens to testimony on HB 67, sponsored by Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, which would ban drag performances in public libraries, on April 29, 2025 in Montgomery, Ala. (Alander Rocha/Alabama Reflector)
An Alabama Senate committee Tuesday approved a bill that prohibits public libraries from presenting or sponsoring drag performances in the presence of minors without parental consent.
As initially filed, HB 67, sponsored by Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, would have prohibited such performances in public libraries as well as K-12 schools. After concerns that the bill could impact school theater productions — with one high school switching a planned 'Peter and the Starcatcher' production to avoid conflict with the potential bill — the bill was amended to prohibit drag performances only in public libraries and libraries in public K-12 schools.
'What the amendment does is limit the effectiveness of this bill to where the problem is occurring … it just it talks about libraries instead of K-12 institutions, and I think that will solve, broadly, our theater program problems in all K-12 schools,' Sen. Chris Elliot, R-Josephine, the chair of the Senate County and Municipal Government Committee, which approved the bill. Elliott did not say where libraries are hosting drag performances.
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Several people spoke against the bill in a public hearing and criticized its definition of drag performances as 'a performance in which a performer exhibits a sex identity that is different from the sex assigned to the performer at birth using clothing, makeup, or other physical markers.'
Opponents said that was an excessively broad definition.
Zephyr Scalzetti, a transgender man from Huntsville, asked if the clothes he wears would be considered drag under the bill's definition. Pointing to the 'What is a Woman Act,' Scalzetti asked if he should wear a dress to his local library.
'Where is the line between what I'm wearing today and drag? Is my beard drag, since it's a male physical marker, the very hair that grows out of my face? The answer to that question in this bill is left entirely up to libraries to determine individually,' Scalzetti said.
Opponents also raised potential legal challenges related to First Amendment rights and equal protection, with some arguing that similar laws have been deemed unconstitutional in the past.
'Whether you call this a drag ban, a crossdressing ban, a masquerade law or a three article rule, courts have ruled these laws unconstitutional for 50 years,' said Opelika resident Chris Hathcock.
Ted Halley, who said he 'detransitioned' back to male after 12 years of identifying as a woman, claimed that 'drag shows are grooming children to be transgender' and incentivize children to transition. Halley did not say whether a drag queen incentivized him to identify as a woman.
'Drag queen story hour, whether it's in school, which I think you should put it back in, or a library, is very dangerous,' Halley claimed.
Detransition and regret are different concepts, a Harvard Medical School study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism suggests, which may overlap in some people, but they are 'sometimes mistakenly viewed as synonymous.'
Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, asked how consent would be obtained and in what situations it would be required. She said that she hosts events for seniors and her sorority in the Bessemer Public Library, and they may bring children with them to some events that could potentially be in conflict with the bill.
'It's a public library. There can be minors, and a lot of my seniors take care of their grandchildren. They may bring them to the event with them,' Coleman said, adding that it's the same case with some sorority events.
Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, said the legislation is a 'cultural distraction' that distracts from more pressing concerns. He said that he is 'absolutely concerned' with lawmakers not 'paying attention to the fact that we are not living– we are not living in normal times.' He said that parents should be deciding what events their children attend.
'Here we are talking about what parents can decide and attempting to codify this into law. I am embarrassed by this … That is shameful. That is not what our government should be doing,' Hatcher said.
The bill goes to the full Senate for consideration.
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