ARKANSAS DRAG BILL

ALAINA MAY | STAFF WRITER

Arecent event in the Arkansas government angered many and called into question just how technical politics can be. That event was the proposal of the bill called SB43 or, more commonly known as the “drag bill”. Although, that is no longer exactly what the bill will be affecting. Let me explain...

Originally, the bill proposed by Sen. Gary Stubblefield (R) in January 2023 was created to restrict minors from attending and viewing drag shows and prohibit them from happening on public property. The reason for this bill offered by Stubblefield was that he believed that such shows are too sexually explicit and should not be seen by minors. Later that month, members of government agreed that the legislation should not focus solely on drag—which one could argue is generally not sexually explicit—and agreed on an amended version of the bill that restricts minors from attending an “adult-oriented performance”.

While, yes, this change in phrasing is a large win for the drag and LGBTQ+ community, the intent of the original legislation is still worrisome. The bill had already been passed by the Senate before the House decided to amend it. What if they hadn’t decided to change anything? What if the original iteration of the bill, which made it past the Senate, had been passed and approved by Governor Sanders?

Attorney and advocate for education improvement in Arkansas, Ali Noland recently wrote an article for the Arkansas Times about SB43 and its unconstitutional qualities prior to it being amended. In an interview with me, she emphasized the need for Arkansas politicians to stop focusing on legislation about inconsequential matters.

“These bills are used by lawmakers to score points with their base and get their name in the news.” Noland said. “These culture-war issues also serve as a distraction, taking pressure off lawmakers to fix real (and often very difficult) issues like poverty, hunger, lack of access to healthcare, high rates of maternal mortality, lack of affordable housing, and lack of economic opportunity in our state.”

In light of the probability that another, similar bill is threatening to be passed by Arkansas government, the main question that should be on everyone’s mind is: Does it pass the Miller test?

In 1973, the Supreme Court passed a new standard for any legislation referring to obscenity called the Miller test. It’s essentially a three-part test that asks: 1. Does it appeal to the average prurient (sexual) interest? 2. Is it explicitly sexual in a way that is outlawed by the state? 3. Is it lacking in literary, artistic, scientific, or political value?

“If this new bill is used to prohibit or punish speech (and, let’s be clear, drag shows ARE speech) which doesn’t meet all of the requirements of the Miller Test, it would likely get struck down in court.” Noland said. “But fighting those legal battles can be time-consuming and very expensive. That’s why it’s important to support organizations, like the ACLU, that work to safeguard our constitutional rights.”

For anyone who has been to a drag show, turned on RuPaul’s Drag Race, or even knows what drag is, it should be obvious that the average drag show would not pass the Miller test. As Associate Professor of Politics, Dr. Peter Gess, said, “There are a lot of people who find artistic value in drag.” Along with the fact that drag is not sexually explicit in nature, and it generally does not spark a “prurient interest” we shouldn’t expect any future drag restricting bills to be passed anytime soon.

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ main legislative goal at present consists of education reform and criminal justice reform which she hopes to pass together, or as an omnibus bill. However, until she’s able to get them both passed, many legislators are simply finding ways to pass the time through bills like the bathroom bill which was recently passed and SB81 which prohibits giving sexually explicit items, such as books, to a minor. Gess agrees that this is simply Arkansas legislators’ way of biding their time.

“The legislature is almost proverbially twirling their thumbs while they’re waiting for those two big bills that are supposed to take a lot of time and resources. There’s this void where these big things aren’t happening, so there are these other things that are filling that void.” Gess said.

As members of this community, Hendrix College students will be directly affected by bills like SB43. If it had been passed before being amended, next year’s Miss Hendrix might have been called into question. While we are a private institution and most of us here are not minors, families and younger friends might not have been able to attend. Even some students might have had to be banned from the Miss Hendrix events.

While we wait for the government to move on from their current focus on cultural bills, there are things that you, as an Arkansas resident, can do.

“It can be frustrating for progressive students to constantly fight against some of this stuff, but voices really make a difference. There is still power in contacting your local legislator. Students should always feel they have a voice and there’s good voice in protests, organizing protests at the capitol is a positive thing.” Gess said. “Contacting your legislators is always a good thing. A phone call is always better than an email. A letter is better than an email. Emails are easy to ignore.”