Latest news with #ProtectionofChildrenAct
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gun shows, not drag shows, are the real threats to Florida's children
Florida lawmakers need to reconsider banning children from drag shows, and instead, adopt a real public safety measure: Banning kids from gun shows. In Florida, it's legal to take a child to a gun show. In fact, it's encouraged, as many gun shows advertise free admission to children who are 12 and younger. Meanwhile two years ago, Florida lawmakers passed the 'Protection of Children Act', which essentially bans children from witnessing live performances that include a person in drag. For this to make sense, singing drag queens would have to be more deadly than loaded handguns. The chain restaurant, Hamburger Mary's, which advertises 'flamboyant dining experiences' featuring family-friendly 'Dining with the Divas' drag shows, has been a target of the new Protection of Children Act. The Act has been blocked so far on Constitutional grounds, and a federal appeals court this month affirmed those concerns. 'By providing only vague guidance as to which performances it prohibits, the Act wields a shotgun when the First Amendment allows a scalpel at most,' the appeals court ruling read. 'And Florida's history of arbitrarily enforcing other, similar laws against performances that are far from obscene only deepens our concerns.' Gov. Ron DeSantis' office has said it will appeal the ruling in order to save the state's children from this alleged scourge. But if child protection is the real aim here, it's worth pointing out that no Florida child has ever been killed by watching a drag show. Opinion: DeSantis can use FSU shooting tragedy to boost gun safety laws The same can't be said about children and their lethal fascination with firearms. So, allowing children into gun shows that feed their interest in these deadly adult toys, has contributed to scores of deadly consequences. Especially in Florida. Our state has the dubious distinction of being among the top states in both gun ownership and unintentional shootings by children. Our View: After FSU shooting, will we repeat our cycle of anguish, anger and inaction? Data compiled by Brady United, the bipartisan national group against gun violence, shows that 85% of fatal unintentional shootings among children occur in a home. 'Previous research indicates that recent household firearm acquisition is associated with an increased risk of unintentional firearm injury and death among young children younger than 12 years of age,' Brady United reported. So, it stands to reason that taking that young child to a gun show to watch his or her parent fondle, express admiration for, and then buy a lethal weapon will only make that child more curious to handle that weapon in the home if it's not properly stored. So, please, spare me that handwringing over exposing kids to drag queen song-and-dance routines, while you welcome them without concern into showrooms of death. Frank Cerabino is a news columnist with The Palm Beach Post, which is part of the USA Today Network-Florida. He can be reached at fcerabino@ This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida bans kids from drag shows, gives free pass gun shows | Opinion
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Appeals court sides with Hamburger Mary's in suit challenging Florida drag show law
ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando restaurant won a significant court victory against Gov. Ron DeSantis Tuesday with a federal appeals panel rejecting a Florida law aimed at keeping children out of drag shows, saying it was overly broad and likely unconstitutional. Judges sided with Hamburger Mary's, a drag-themed eatery, in a 2-1 decision. The restaurant sued DeSantis and Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation in 2023, arguing the state law passed that year bars children from even the 'most innocent drag performances.' Writing for the majority, Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum said the law's language wasn't specific enough to meet First Amendment standards. 'By providing only vague guidance as to which performances it prohibits, the Act wields a shotgun when the First Amendment allows a scalpel at most,' said Rosenbaum's 81-page majority opinion joined by Judge Nancy Abudu. 'And Florida's history of arbitrarily enforcing other, similar laws against performances that are far from obscene only deepens our concerns.' The state appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after a lower court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law. In a statement, DeSantis spokesman Brian Wright blasted the appeals court's decision as an 'egregious overreach by a federal court' that prohibits the state 'from enforcing a common sense law.' 'No one has a constitutional right to perform sexual routines in front of little kids,' he said. 'We will do everything possible to have this lawless decision overturned.' But John Paonessa, co-owner of Orlando's Hamburger Mary's restaurant, said laws were already on the books to protect children from sexually explicit content. He said he thinks the intention of the 2023 law was to intimidate venues from letting children into any event featuring performers in drag. 'For them lewd and inappropriate is just a drag queen dressed in clothes not exposing anything,' he said. 'That to them is too much.' Though supporters argued the law, dubbed the 'Protection of Children Act,' was needed to shield children from sexually explicit performances, critics blasted it as targeting the LGBTQ+ community with unclear language that could endanger drag brunches and even the 'Mrs. Doubtfire' musical. Hundreds of drag performers marched in Tallahassee in protest of the legislation. The statute doesn't explicitly mention drag shows. Instead, it prohibits minors from attending an 'adult live performance' that 'depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or specific sexual activities,' including 'the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts.' The law came after a DeSantis administration crackdown on venues where children attended drag shows. Hamburger Mary's was forced to ban children from what the restaurant called its family-friendly shows, resulting in a 20% drop in Sunday bookings, according to the restaurant's suit. In the opinion, judges referenced Miami's iconic Coppertone sunscreen billboard to bolster their argument. The ad shows 'a girl, perhaps age seven, or so, with a dog pulling at her swimsuit, revealing her pale posterior and its contrast with her tanned skin,' Rosenbaum wrote. 'Would a depiction like the Coppertone logo be 'patently offensive' for a five-year-old? An eight-year-old? How about a seventeen-year-old? We don't know, and we don't think the burden should be on speakers to find out,' she wrote. Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat dissented, writing he thought the majority went too far and 'reads the statute in the broadest possible way, maximizes constitutional conflict, and strikes the law down wholesale.' Tjoflat wrote the court should engage the law's text 'in good faith and with the presumption that the Legislature did not intend to infringe on constitutional rights.' Last year, Hamburger Mary's shuttered its location on Church Street in downtown Orlando. Owners said in January they are hoping to reopen in Kissimmee. _____
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Appeals court sides with Hamburger Mary's in suit challenging drag show law
An Orlando restaurant won a significant court victory against Gov. Ron DeSantis Tuesday with a federal appeals panel rejecting a Florida law aimed at keeping children out of drag shows, saying it was overly broad and likely unconstitutional. Judges sided with Hamburger Mary's, a drag-themed eatery, in a 2-1 decision. The restaurant sued DeSantis and Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation in 2023, arguing the state law passed that year bars children from even the 'most innocent drag performances.' Writing for the majority, Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum said the law's language wasn't specific enough to meet First Amendment standards. 'By providing only vague guidance as to which performances it prohibits, the Act wields a shotgun when the First Amendment allows a scalpel at most,' said Rosenbaum's 81-page majority opinion joined by Judge Nancy Abudu. 'And Florida's history of arbitrarily enforcing other, similar laws against performances that are far from obscene only deepens our concerns.' The state appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after a lower court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law. In a statement, DeSantis spokesman Brian Wright blasted the appeals court's decision as an 'egregious overreach by a federal court' that prohibits the state 'from enforcing a common sense law.' 'No one has a constitutional right to perform sexual routines in front of little kids,' he said. 'We will do everything possible to have this lawless decision overturned.' But John Paonessa, co-owner of Orlando's Hamburger Mary's restaurant, said laws were already on the books to protect children from sexually explicit content. He said he thinks the intention of the 2023 law was to intimidate venues from letting children into any event featuring performers in drag. 'For them lewd and inappropriate is just a drag queen dressed in clothes not exposing anything,' he said. 'That to them is too much.' Though supporters argued the law, dubbed the 'Protection of Children Act,' was needed to shield children from sexually explicit performances, critics blasted it as targeting the LGBTQ+ community with unclear language that could endanger drag brunches and even the 'Mrs. Doubtfire' musical. Hundreds of drag performers marched in Tallahassee in protest of the legislation. The statute doesn't explicitly mention drag shows. Instead, it prohibits minors from attending an 'adult live performance' that 'depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or specific sexual activities,' including 'the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts.' The law came after a DeSantis administration crackdown on venues where children attended drag shows. Hamburger Mary's was forced to ban children from what the restaurant called its family-friendly shows, resulting in a 20% drop in Sunday bookings, according to the restaurant's suit. In the opinion, judges referenced Miami's iconic Coppertone sunscreen billboard to bolster their argument. The ad shows 'a girl, perhaps age seven, or so, with a dog pulling at her swimsuit, revealing her pale posterior and its contrast with her tanned skin,' Rosenbaum wrote. 'Would a depiction like the Coppertone logo be 'patently offensive' for a five-year-old? An eight-year-old? How about a seventeen-year-old? We don't know, and we don't think the burden should be on speakers to find out,' she wrote. Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat dissented, writing he thought the majority went too far and 'reads the statute in the broadest possible way, maximizes constitutional conflict, and strikes the law down wholesale.' Tjoflat wrote the court should engage the law's text 'in good faith and with the presumption that the Legislature did not intend to infringe on constitutional rights.' Last year, Hamburger Mary's shuttered its location on Church Street in downtown Orlando. Owners said in January they are hoping to reopen in Kissimmee.
