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Montana became the first state in the country to specifically ban people dressed as women from reading to children in schools and public libraries.as part of a series of laws targeting the LGBTQ community.
While the bills in Florida and Tennessee also seek to ban drag read-throughs, they are more directed at performances that are sexual in nature, which could be subject to interpretation.
Montana law is unique because, while it defines such an event as one hosted by a drag king or drag queen reading children’s books to minor children, it does not require that a sexual element be prohibited.
That makes Montana’s law the first to specifically ban drag read-out events, said Sasha Buchert, an attorney with Lambda Legal, a national organization that seeks to protect the civil rights of the LGBTQ+ community and people diagnosed with HIV and AIDS.
“It is constitutionally suspect at every level,” Buchert said Tuesday, arguing that the bill limits free speech.
The bill, which was cosponsored by more than half of the Republican-controlled legislature, it went into effect immediately after Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed it on Monday.
Gianforte signed the bill because he “believes it is grossly inappropriate for young children, especially preschoolers and children in elementary school, to be exposed to sexualized content,” spokeswoman Kaitlin Price said in a statement.
The bill initially sought to ban minors from attending drag performances, but the legislation was later amended to allow children to attend obscene or sexually oriented performances on public property.
Drag performers who opposed the legislation said they have separate performances for children compared to those for adults.
It is unclear how often such drag reading events have taken place in public schools or libraries in Montana.
Drag read-in events were held at ZooMontana in Billings and at a bookstore in downtown Helena in 2022, but neither would be prohibited under the new law.
A Montana drag performer with The Mister Sisters in Great Falls, stage name Julie Yard, helps organize drag read-in events and says she’s never been asked to coordinate one at any school, public or otherwise.
The drag read-throughs will continue despite the protests, which Yard says helps show they’re necessary.
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