Tennessee Drag Show Ban Upheld After Appeals Court Reverses Ruling

Judges said ’there is no constitutional interest in exhibiting indecent material to minors.’

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee at the White House on April 30, 2020. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

A federal appeals court on July 18 reversed a lower court ruling as it upheld a law in Tennessee that bans performances featuring strippers or men dressed as women in locations where they could be viewed by children.

A majority of a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that a nonprofit theater group challenging the constitutionality of the Adult Entertainment Act (AEA) failed to prove it has standing.