Senate legislation advanced on a 28-12 party-line vote, largely aimed at stopping children from attending Drag show
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Due to the passage of SB 1423 and likely signing by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Space Coast Daily reached out to Melbourne City Councilman Tim Thomas, who, in November 2022, sent a letter to the Brevard County Legislative delegation urging them to pass a bill protecting children from exposure to Drag Queens in public places.
The Senate legislation, which advanced on a 28-12 party-line vote, is largely aimed at stopping children from attending Drag shows.
It authorizes state government officials within the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to suspend or revoke the liquor license of any establishment that admits minors to a live, adult performance.
Prohibited performances would be those that include “lewd conduct, or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts,” meant to appeal to “prurient, shameful, or morbid interests,” and displays that are patently offensive and “without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for the age of the child present.”
A person who admits a child to such a performance, as the bill defines it, would face a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to $1,000 in fines and up to a year in prison.
Following is Melbourne City Councilman Tim Thomas’ letter to the Brevard County Legislative delegation:
As a Melbourne City Councilman, I’m proud to stand against Drag Queens having access to underaged children on public property, to read them books, or through exposure to Drag Queen shows, exposing them to sexually explicit themes and concepts.
The First Amendment has limits; You can’t yell fire in a theater. As a result of SB 1438, the protection of our children trumps the Drag Queen’s First Amendment to indoctrinate them with these sexualized concepts.
Ten years ago, it would have been unheard of for a municipality to issue a permit for Drag Queen Story Time or a Drag Queen show in the middle of downtown. The public outcry would have been significant, and the event seen as perverse. Today, municipalities cow tail to the woke mob and routinely permit such events for fear of being sued or being canceled if they don’t.
According to the Drag Time Story Hours‘ own website, their purpose is to “capture the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive and unabashedly queer role models.”
This is nothing but an attempt to indoctrinate young children through visual presentation and interaction to be gender fluid or even question their biological sex. Young children can’t comprehend these sensitive concepts, nor should they need to.
I’m very pleased and proud our State legislature had the courage to take on the woke mob and pass this bill. The House and the Senate overwhelmingly voted in support. Our legislative delegation, including Representatives Altman, Fine, Sirois, and Tramont, as well as Senators Mayfield and Wright unanimously voted in support.
Once this bill is signed by Governor Desantis, I hope the guidance from Attorney General Ashley Moody to municipalities is perfectly clear for the implementation of the law as well as the punishment for non-compliance. If municipalities can’t protect the innocence of our children in public from Drag Queen shows and Drag Queen Story Hour, you can rest assured it won’t stop there. The next venues they will demand access to will be churches and synagogues.
We can bury our heads in the sand and sing Zippity Doo Dah, or we can fight to have some sort of control over what our young children are exposed to. I choose to fight and will continue to do so as your elected official.
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