Could proposed Texas bills to ban drag shows also ‘criminalize’ Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders?

What is obscene or inappropriate for public consumption, especially kids, has flummoxed our country for decades.

It has slipped through the hands of legislators and the courts like Silly Putty.

Consider in 1964, when Justice Potter Stewart tried to explain “hard-core” pornography, or what is obscene, by saying: “I know it when I see it.”

Laws were passed but the struggle continues, which brings us to the Texas state house and how a proposed bill to ban drag shows could engulf the iconic and world renown Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

It started with Senate Bill 12, which would ban sexually explicit or suggestive performances while minors are present. A related bill, SB 1601, is also being deliberated by the House Committee on State Affairs.

The proposed bills would make it a criminal offense “to engage in sexually oriented performances on public property, on the premises of a commercial enterprise, or in the presence of a child.”

While the intent was to ban drag shows from public libraries, the broad language could affect NFL cheerleaders, popular restaurants like Hooters and Twin Peaks, R-rated movies and even youth cheerleaders.

Roughly 400 people signed up to testify about the bill on Wednesday with the majority of them opposed to it.

Luke Macias, a political consultant from New Braunfels who supports the bill, was asked point blank by Rep. Chris Turner, a Grand Prairie Democrat whose district includes Arlington, Grand Prairie and Mansfield, if banning “prurient content” in front of kids would apply to NFL cheerleaders.

Macias said “maybe.”

”Worst scenario is we have a few less cheerleaders in Texas for a year and a half,” he said.

How about taking kids to the movies?

“If this bill actually extends to rated R-movies in theaters, I think that would be a huge blessing,” Macias said. “I hope it does.”

Turner also asked Macias about how the bill would impact children who may dance suggestively in dance competitions.

“The less twerking children are doing, the better off Texas would be as a society,” Macias said. “All it does is say nobody, no matter how you’re dressed, can get up and perform in a sexual manner, a prurient manner in front of a child.”

The legislation would levy a fine up to $10,000 against any business owner hosting a “sexually oriented performance” with anyone who’s younger than 18 present. A city or county would also not be able to host these kinds of performances on public property, according to the proposal.

Macias’ interpretation of how the bills will can be vaguely interpreted and thus policed has Rep. Richard Raymond, a Democrat from Laredo, worried on how it could affect the Cowboys cheerleaders.

“The problem or concern with this kind of law is if you did decide to take your kids to a Dallas Cowboys game, we have to be careful because it could be illegal,” Raymond said.

He added: “I am afraid of the intent and context. That’s a slippery slope.”

At issue is the language of criminalizing any “sexually oriented performance or a visual performance that appeals to the prurient interest in sex.”

What is the the prurient interest in sex?

As of now, Texas lawmakers supporting the bill can’t truly define it, but “they know it when they see it.”