PHOENIX — A proposal backed by Arizona House Republicans making it a felony for parents to let their minor children view a drag show has been stripped of its drag show references and rewritten to penalize adults who allow a minor to see any "adult-oriented performance'' of a sexual nature.
The changes to the proposal by Rep. Michael Way, R-Queen Creek, came Monday, just days after a House attorney told a committee charged with ensuring proposals meet constitutional muster that Way's proposal could violate both the 1st and 14th amendments as well as parental rights.
So now, the drag show bill simply builds on the current obscenity law that makes it a felony to furnish or show to a minor anything harmful. It's basically a rewritten version of what is already a Class 4 felony punishable by a presumptive 2 1/2 years in prison.
The initial bill also would have penalized performers or anyone controlling them if they allowed minors to view them.
But all things being political at the state Capitol, when Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, sought the amendment to Way's bill, he purportedly asked the House analyst working on it to also craft a version that kept the drag show language while including his other revisions.
Rep. Michael Way
"I'm trying to figure out what would be the most fun with the Democrats,'' Kolodin wrote in an email asking for the second version. "That could be a good time.''
Rep. Alexander Kolodin
Only thing is, that email was accidentally sent to multiple House analysts, including those working for Democrats, and Rep. Brian Garcia, D-Tempe, read it on the House floor Monday night during debate on the measure. He said the email shows Kolodin's amendment wasn't being offered in "good faith.''
"Frankly, I do not think we should be having fun with people's lives,'' Garcia said.
Kolodin declined to answer questions about the bill when reached by telephone Tuesday, instead directing a reporter to text him his questions and asking for a deadline.
But he did not respond by that deadline to questions that included asking why he amended House Bill 2589, whether it was because the House rules attorney raised constitutionally issues with the bill — and whether it was a good use of public resources to seek a second amendment just so he could have "fun" with Democratic opponents.
Kolodin wasn't on the House floor during the debate.
"I can't speak (for) Rep. Kolodin," Way said, "but if you look at the amendment and read the plain language, the statutory language that's being offered, I don't know how anybody could vote against this."
Way's bill advanced on a voice vote and now awaits a formal vote in the House, where supportive Republicans hold a majority.
The drag show proposal has been around for several years, with Republicans arguing that exposing kids to the performances is a pathway to transgenderism. A popular television series called RuPaul's Drag Race popularized the performances more than a decade ago.
But there have been forms of entertainment across the decades that included cross-dressing, including popular movies like "Some Like It Hot,'' "Tootsie'' and "Mrs. Doubtfire.''
The growing presence of drag shows across the country caught the eye of GOP lawmakers in Arizona several years ago, and they included them among other "culture war'' items they push regularly at the Capitol.
Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed versions of the drag show bill in 2023.
Way told the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month that his bill is all about protecting children from being exposed to nudity and certain sexual activities while performers are "dressed as the opposite sex.''
"Members of the drag community themselves say publicly that drag involves a lot of filth, sexual stuff and nudity, sex and drugs, whether it's backstage, underground, or performance related,'' Way said.
But nothing in his original bill would have required any showing of nudity to run afoul of the law about what children can see. Instead, it covered anything that "presented an exaggerated and stylized gender expression that differs from the person's biological sex or normal gender presentation.''
Other Republicans said drag shows amount to sexual grooming and that young children who can't understand the difference are being taught that being transgender is beneficial and good for them.
But Rep. Alma Hernandez, D-Tucson, pointed out during that hearing that Way acknowledged never actually seeing a drag show. She said she has seen a drag show, the first while in 12th grade, and that Way is mistaken about them.
Hernandez said what's going on here is beyond the role of the Legislature and far different from shows like that at a strip club.
"It is absolutely ridiculous for us to sit here and try to compare a performance, who none of you have ever been to, and try to equate it somehow to a strip club,''' she said.
Hernandez also took a swat at the comments from Republicans linking drag performances with grooming and gender dysphoria.
"This is the ignorance that is so frustrating and that we continue to sit here and pretend that we're not attacking one community,'' she said. Hernandez said that goes to what she believes is the real agenda behind the legislation.
"If it wasn't about the gay community or the trans community, you wouldn't have mentioned what you did,'' she said.
