The administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has taken strides to toss out the liquor license attached to one venue in Florida that allegedly hosted a “sexually explicit” drag show which was targeted to and open to children, as expressed in a complaint filed this past Friday.
One performance art center, the Orlando Philharmonic Plaza Foundation, played host to a performance of “A Drag Queen Christmas” back on the 28th of December, an event which was advertised as being open to “all ages” ignoring numerous warnings from the state of Florida about the need to restrict attendance in the performance was going to be sexually explicit.
In the wake of the show, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation slammed an administrative complaint seeking to revoke the liquor license for the venue after finding out that the performance had been sexually explicit and that there had been kids present.
“Governor DeSantis stands to protect the innocence of children, and the governor always follows through when he says he will do something,” expressed DeSantis Press Secretary Bryan Griffin via a statement to Florida Voice News.
The filed complaint stated that the venue “promoted the Show using targeted, Christmas-themed promotional materials that did not provide notice as to the sexually explicit nature of the show’s performance or other content.”
“Rather than call attention to the Show’s sexually explicit content or acknowledge that it might not be appropriate for children, Respondent’s promotional material unequivocally stated ‘all ages welcome,’” the complaint went on.
As explained by local officials, the explicit content of the show included: exposing the buttocks of performers, exposing prosthetic breasts and female genitalia, simulated masturbation, and a rendition of songs such as “Screwdolph the Red-Nippled Reindeer, ‘ which is a sexually explicit children’s Christmas song.
The complaint expressed that the performance went against a number of statutes for Florida, which has sparked the initiative to revoke the venue’s liquor license. The complaint came in the wake of an investigation carried out by Florida concerning a number of drag performances, including one which was held in Fort Lauderdale.
Republicans from a number of other states have also kicked off efforts to block children from being subjected to sexually explicit drag shows. Just this past week, a bill which was attempting to stop kids from attending these types of performances was able to pass through the Tennessee state Senate.
This new bill was brought to the floor by Republican state Sen. Jack Johnson who expressed that he is “cautiously optimistic” about its odds of making it through both sides of the state Congress.
“I think we would all agree that some of the video we have seen recently of some of these drag shows that were quote-unquote family-friendly were anything but that. And If I had attended one of those with my kids I would have been mortified and I would have wanted someone to be prosecuted for engaging in that kind of entertainment in front of my kids,” concluded Johnson.
