Minors would not be allowed to attend drag shows under a bill advancing in the Iowa House. Adults could be charged with a felony if they knowingly bring a minor to a performance.
During a House subcommittee hearing on the bill, Oliver Bardwell, a leader of the group Iowans for Freedom, said the legislation is necessary to ensure adult content is for adults only.
“Children are curious and trusting. They lack the maturity to process sexual content,” he said. “Exposing them too early can have lifelong negative effects on their development.”
The bill describes a drag show as a performance centered on someone using make up and clothing to take on a gender identity different from the one on their birth certificate.
Zoe Mahler of Iowa City was among several drag performers who testified against the bill. “There is nothing inherently obscene about drag,” Mahler said. “…It provides provides entertainment and catharsis to queer and cisgender people.”
Businesses could be fined $10,000 each time a minor is allowed to attend entertainment featuring someone who performs in attire associated with a different gender. Critics say the bill is written too broadly, making it a crime for children to be in the audience for movies like “Mulan” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” or to attend plays like Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.”
(By Isabella Luu, Iowa Public Radio/Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson also contributed to this story.)