COLUMBUS, Ohio — House Bill 245, introduced at the Ohio Statehouse, could ban some drag performances in front of children.

The bill would place limits on drag performers who display a gender identity other than the one assigned at birth, if the performance is considered harmful to children or obscene.

What You Need To Know

  • The bill aims to limit certain drag performances in front of children deemed harmful or obscene to kids

  • Ohio Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania, said the bill isn't attacking drag, or artistic expression

  • Drag performers like Peter Sherman said this limits youth to see expression of drag 

One of the bill’s sponsors, Ohio Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania, said this bill is not attacking drag, or artistic expression. Williams said the legislation is focusing on stopping what he deems as sexualized acts from being performed in front of kids.

"To be clear, this legislation is not attacking performances in drag or artistic expression, it is focusing on the obscene, overly sexualized acts that you can see in these videos being performed in front of impressionable kids," said Williams. 

Peter Sherman is a professional drag queen who's been performing for more than seven years. He said drag performances can be changed so they are appropriate for all ages.

He said the songs have no swearing, no mention of drugs, and the goal is to have a fun time dancing and being your true self. Sherman said for some kids it might be a chance to finally relate to someone like themselves. 

"Those young people deserve to have a space where they can not only feel like they have a connection to other people for something that they once felt so isolated for," Sherman said. "But it also just helps them to ask bigger questions for themselves and truly get to know themselves as a person." 

Jonathan Entin, a professor of law at Case Western Reserve University, said defining the term "obscene" can be tricky. 

"For example, a federal court recently blocked a Tennessee law that prohibited drag shows that were accessible to children because the courts said the Tennessee law didn't clearly enough define exactly what it was targeting. So the devil here will be in the details," Entin said. 

Sherman said he understands what it is like to grow up not seeing drag performances, and it would be unfair for kids to grow-up not having that opportunity.

 "I just keep imagining that if I had these shows to look at when I was a kid, maybe I wouldn't have felt so alone," Sherman said. 

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