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Arizona Republicans want to ban Sunday drag brunches and drag queen story hours

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Barbra Seville — Photo courtesy of Visit Phoenix
Barbra Seville — Photo courtesy of Visit Phoenix

Republican lawmakers in Arizona have introduced three bills to "regulate" drag shows in the state. If passed, they would effectively outlaw Sunday drag brunches and prohibit children from attending drag events — including drag queen story hours.

The most comprehensive bill, SB 1030, would require special licenses for drag shows and limit their hours. Under the proposal, drag shows would be prohibited Monday through Saturday between 1:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., and on Sunday before noon. This would effectively ban Sunday drag brunches.

Violations would be classed as misdemeanors but could affect a venue's business and liquor licenses.

Other legislation would define drag performances "exaggerating gender" — in short, almost all drag — as "adult content." This would potentially forbid drag queen story hours that are open to minors.

Local drag performers charged that the measures are motivated by anti-LGBTQ bias.

"I... think if you walked up to someone at the supermarket today and said, 'Hey, what's a problem that's facing you and your family?' I bet they would list 15-20 things before they ever got around to drag shows," said Phoenix drag star Barbra Seville.

"There are very popular drag brunches all over the [Salt River] Valley. Some of them get anywhere from 100 to 300 people who just want to come out. They want to laugh."

LGBTQ activists worried that the bills could advance in a state legislature controlled by Republicans.

"It definitely has political implications," said Bridget Sharpe, Arizona director of the Human Rights Campaign.

Sharpe said there is momentum for these proposed bills with a Republican-controlled House and Senate. "If there's enough interest from their party, I'm certain this could get a committee hearing. That would be the next step in the process," said Sharpe.

The prime sponsor of SB 1030 is Arizona state Sen. Anthony Kern. Kern is noteworthy because he was one of the fraudulent "electors" pledged to cast the state's electoral votes for Donald Trump in the 2020 election. He is a close ally of QAnon congressmembers Louis Gohmert and Paul Gosar.

Kern declined to comment on his bills when asked by the CBS News affiliate in Phoenix, but fellow Republican Sen. John Kavanagh said he believes state regulation of drag shows is timely.

"I would suspect that this session, suddenly there's an interest in regulating drag shows because culturally there's been a sudden preponderance or abundance of drag shows that are directed at children," said Kavanagh.

Kavanagh introduced another bill, which would bar the use of state money to fund drag shows open to minors. This would prevent libraries and schools from hosting drag queen story hours.

Sharpe noted that Arizona's newly elected governor, Katie Hobbs, campaigned as an ally of the LGBTQ communities and was likely to veto any of these bills if they passed.

"Ultimately we feel this is just a big waste of time, knowing this bill will likely get vetoed," said Sharpe.