Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders set to restrict drag shows

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is set to ban drag shows from public state property – a move she says will protect children and is only controversial in the “dystopia awake of the radical left ».

The Republican governor is set to sign a bill that would define drag shows as « performances intended for adults, which passed the state House panel on Wednesday and calls for their banning from public ownership. “, reported the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

“I think we have to do everything – I’ve been very clear and I’ve talked about this quite extensively – to protect children. I think that’s what this bill does,” Sanders said last month.

Sanders spokeswoman Alexa Henning told the Washington Post that the bill is not intended to « ban anything, » but to « protect children » from exposure to « sexually sexual drag shows. » explicit ».

“Only in the woke dystopia of the radical left is it inappropriate to protect children,” she told the newspaper.

The bill defines a drag show as someone who dances, sings and lip-syncs in front of an audience of two or more people while using a different gender identity than one given at birth.

The performers use « clothing, makeup, or other props that are traditionally worn by members of and are intended to exaggerate the gender identity of the performer’s opposite sex ».

Democratic Senator Clarke Tucker called the bill unconstitutional.

« The truth is that this bill is not about governance…it’s bullying, » he said.

Republican Rep. Mary Bentley said the bill’s intent was not to target trans people or theatrical performances, like the Broadway production « Tootsie, » but to protect children from sexually explicit performances, reports the Gazette.

« We’re not trying to be anti-person, » she said.

Sanders, who was sworn in last month as Arkansas’ first female governor, has already issued executive orders that would ban critical race theory in public schools and the use of the term « Latinx, » a term not which replaces the letter « o » in Latin, in government documents.

“Ethnically insensitive and pejorative language has no place in official government documents or the titles of government employees,” its executive order states.

“The government has a responsibility to respect its citizens and to use ethnically appropriate language, especially when referring to ethnic minorities,” he says.

“One cannot more easily remove gender from Spanish and other Romance languages ​​than one can remove vowels and verbs from English,” the executive order continues.

« It is the policy of the Governor’s administration to prohibit the use of culturally insensitive words on official state government business, » he added.

Eric Reese, state director of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in the United States, told the Washington Post that the new legislation and executive orders are meant to send the message that they « choose a camp in this culture war ». .”