Florida law protecting children from drag shows finally upheld 

A Florida law restricting children from adult performances, including drag shows, will now be enforced in the state after a court of appeals ruled in favor of the law that was on hold for three years.

“Children don’t have a right to consent; they just go where their parents are going…” Anthony Verdugo, the founder and executive director of the Christian Family Coalition of Florida, told Heartlander News in an interview. “They’re not the decision makers, and for good reason because they’re children. And why would we make an exception in this case?”

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Protection of Children Act into law in May 2023, but after an Orlando restaurant sued, the law was tied up until the 11th Circuit Court lifted the injunction Aug. 4 in an 8-5 vote. The state law creates a criminal penalty for admitting minors to an “adult live performance,” the law states.

“We are going to protect the innocence of our children” Gov. DeSantis said in a video last week. “Why would it be problematic to say you can’t do this stuff that’s sexually explicit in front of minors? That used to not even be something that would be questioned.”

The Christian Family Coalition of Florida, a human rights and social justice advocacy organization, made the legislation a top priority when it was proposed in 2023.

“When legislation was filed, we started doing our own independent research, and found, for example, in Miami, that there was an issue at an establishment that was hosting drag brunches on the weekends,” Verdugo said. “A video surfaced on Facebook showing an individual dressed as a stripper walking around near a three-year-old child at a bar. We really talked that instance up to the legislators and explained to them why this was an issue in our state and why it needed to be prohibited.”

After the legislation became law in 2023, Hamburger Mary’s in Orlando, Florida, sued saying that the wording of the law was too broad and infringed on free-speech rights. The recent ruling by the appeals court allows the law to be enforced even while the case by Hamburger Mary’s is still in process.

Now that the law can be enforced, the Christian Family Coalition is turning its focus to conscience protections for employees who disagree with gender ideology or the use of preferred pronouns in the workplace.

“Currently, there are no protections for these folks, and they can actually lose their job simply by working at an office – be it a city, municipal office, or the state, or county, or school board – simply for living out their faith in the workplace, and we think that’s wrong,” Verdugo said. “We don’t think employees should have to choose between their faith and their work.”