As of March 18 Texas can enforce Senate Bill 12, a 2023 law also known as the Texas Drag Ban, that prohibits “sexually oriented performances” on public property and in the presence of minors.
A federal court declared the law unconstitutional in 2023 after the ACLU sued to challenge it, claiming it infringed on the First Amendment rights of drag performers, companies, and local pride groups. The law remained blocked until the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling late last year and sent the case back to the district court for further analysis, allowing it to take effect, according to ACLU Texas attorney Brian Klosterboer.
The law restricts performances that involve nudity, simulated sexual acts, or sexual gestures in places where minors could be present. It also includes performances using accessories or prosthetics that “exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics.”
Individuals and businesses may be fined $10,000 for hosting sexually oriented performances, but criminal penalties are not enforceable in Travis or Bexar counties, according to Klosterboer.
Klosterboer said the 5th Circuit also determined that family-friendly drag shows are not affected by the law because they do not meet the definition of performances appealing to a “prurient interest in sex.” As a result, events such as drag story hours and performances at pride parades and festivals remain legal in Texas. Given the totality of the situation, Klosterboer said that this aspect is a “win” for pride groups.
Klosterboer said, however, that the law still violates the First Amendment because it is vague, prohibits constitutionally protected speech, and targets viewpoint discrimination.
“We’re continuing this lawsuit in the district court because it’s still unconstitutionally vague in what is prohibited by this law,” Klosterboer said.
The law is named the Texas Drag Ban because of its original intent in the Texas Legislature in 2023. Although the current policy does not mention drag by name, the bill’s original version aimed to prohibit sexually oriented performances with “a male performer exhibiting as a female, or a female performer exhibiting as a male.”
“Texas Governor Signs Law Banning Drag Performances in Public. That’s right,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in an X post after signing the bill into law.
“It’s just important that we know our rights and continue to support drag performers.”
Drag Performer and Activist Brigitte Bandit
Naveen Farrani, communications strategist at Equality Texas, said it is important to emphasize that, regardless of the law going into effect, drag is not illegal, hoping that misinformation won’t lead venues to overcomply.
“The ripple effect of that is really dangerous, because … places that don’t have the time or the knowledge to meaningfully understand the law, err on the side of extreme caution when they don’t have to,” Farrani said.
Brigitte Bandit, Austin drag queen, activist, and plaintiff in the ACLU case, said that when she first started testifying against SB 12, she thought the Republican lawmakers who introduced the legislation misunderstood what drag was.
“I thought if they saw me in drag, they would realize that this is a non-issue, and they would just let it go,” Bandit said. “How naive was I? Since then, I’ve realized that they know exactly what they’re doing, and they know that they are just using drag queens and trans people as a scapegoat for real issues.”
When the legislation was first being pushed in 2023, an image of her reading books to children at a drag story hour was digitally altered by an anti-LGBTQIA group to make it appear as though the event was taking place inside a 21-and-older bar.
“This is what this bill is about. It is aimed to try to target and restrict drag and drag entertainers, and they will try to use it as best as they can,” Bandit said. “It’s just important that we know our rights and continue to support drag performers.”
Joseph Gamez and Rick Montez, San Antonio fathers and founders and co-owners of 360 Queen Entertainment, a drag production company, said they contacted the ACLU out of fear that drag shows they typically host at Tomatillos Restaurant and Bar, owned by Montez’s father, could become illegal under SB 12.
“For LGBTQ+ folks, it’s almost like whatever you do is a constant battle,” Gamez said. “Being seen and accepted in public, being able to go to certain spaces and feel safe and comfortable, being able to do business and be an entrepreneur, it’s all very uncomfortable in some way or another.”
Like Farrani, Gamez said it has become increasingly important to clarify that drag is not banned in Texas, as confusion around the law’s name and messaging from Republican lawmakers has led some people to believe it is.
“We’re battling this from many sides, but the court of public opinion, the public perception, is probably one of the most threatening factors of all this.”
Montez said the legislation has created harmful narratives about the drag community, which has resulted in the partners receiving Facebook messages calling them “pedos.”
“We have five children, and we know the first thing there is to being a father, and we understand the concept of protecting our children, protecting them from things that are inappropriate,” Montez said.
Gamez said he is proud of the ACLU and the other plaintiffs’ efforts to “put it through the wringer” to emphasize that family-friendly drag is still legal.
“Even if we can’t say that SB 12 went away completely, we know that a lot of what the court has clarified about this case are wins for us,” Gamez said. “That’s not to say we’re not going to keep fighting SB 12. … We want to be able to say SB 12 is unconstitutional and [that] drag is alive.”
This article appears in March 20 • 2026.