MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Easter became a day of activism for many people in Memphis, with calls to action ringing in Cooper-Young.
Sunday afternoon, groups marched to Overton Park dressed as their inner kings and queens at the ‘People In Clothes Promenade.’ Several advocates carried signs in hand saying “Trans Rights Are Human Rights,” and “Guns Hurt Kids Not Drag.”
“It’s just clothes and it’s just makeup, and it’s just people expressing who they feel they are inside, and there’s nothing dangerous about that or threatening, and so we’re just showing that,” said Linley Schmidt, People In Clothes Promenade Co-Organizer.
Sunday, Schmidt and other marchers asked lawmakers to refocus their priorities instead of enacting laws that target the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.
“We need to focus on guns, housing, medical care, education, all of those are important, and if they aren’t focused on, that will hurt kids and not drag,” said Schmidt.
In the beginning of March, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed the country’s first law limiting drag performances. State Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, who introduced the senate version of the bill, claimed it would address “sexually aggressive drag shows” inappropriate for children.
The law was set to go into effect in the beginning of April, however, it met a roadblock. Memphis theater group ‘Friends of George’s’ filed a lawsuit against Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy and the state of Tennessee.
The organization claimed the bill made sweeping generalizations about what counted as artistic performances and violated a performer’s first amendment right to free speech.
By the end of March the law was delayed by two weeks, and in the first full week of April, a federal judge pushed the date another month and a half.
“He extended the temporary restraining order to the 26th of May, and gave us a hearing on the 22nd of May, and said that we could both give our cases why this bill should stay where it’s at,” said Micah Winter-Cole, Friends of George’s Board Member.
Winter-Cole says there is a chance the lawsuit will have to continue throughout the rest of the 6th Circuit Court, and even the Supreme Court. While they hope the lawsuit does not go that far, it is a challenge Friends of George’s is willing to meet.
“I mean we have art to create, lives to live, we don’t wish to ham this up in front of everybody for months and months on end, however we’re willing to,” said Winter-Cole, “We are people who want to continue to live our lives in most ways, and we wish the Tennessee Legislature would let us do that, but if they’re not willing to, we’ll do it.”
Friends of George’s said DA Mulroy was sued in order to sue the Governor and Attorney General’s office.
In an email Mulroy stated he did not mind the law being blocked since there was a lot of confusion surrounding how it would be applied, adding it would be useful to freeze the law until those issues were worked out.
This is not the first time Mulroy has spoken about the issues surrounding the drag-limiting law. In March he told ABC24 he thought the bill was “ill-advised” and there were much bigger issues that should be focused on. Mulroy says while he would enforce the law, he considers cases involving the law a low priority.