“I wonder if your heart would break if I had shown up wearing a tie today?” House Democratic Whip Rachel Roberts, above, asked Republican Rep. Chris Fugate. (LRC Public Information)
A House committee on Tuesday advanced a Senate bill to regulate “sexually explicit” performances hosted in “adult-oriented businesses” which opponents have labeled as “anti drag.”
Members of the House Veterans, Military Affairs & Public Protection Committee voted to approve the latest version of Senate Bill 147, sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield.
Senator Lindsey Tichenor at her seat in the Kentucky Senate, Feb. 27, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Arden Barnes)
The Senate passed the bill on March 6. Thursday is the 53rd day of the 60-day legislative session.
The bill would keep businesses that “predominantly” host “sexually explicit” performances from locating within 933 feet — roughly a city block — of establishments that cater to children, like schools. Violators could lose their ability to renew business or liquor licenses and could receive cease and desist letters. Local governments could also make the rules tighter.
Tichenor said the bill in its current form no longer gives citizens the right to bring civil actions for violations. Instead, that power would go to the attorney general, commonwealth’s attorney and county attorneys.
“The Commonwealth of Kentucky has long set regulations around several different industries in order to enact measures to protect its citizens,” Tichenor told committee members. “We regulate and monitor insurance, horse racing, financial advising, real estate, alcohol — the list is long. The intent of this bill is to set regulations around an unchecked industry to ensure we are protecting communities and minors within those communities from the exposure that may lead to adverse secondary effects.”
Other changes to the bill included allowing businesses to be grandfathered into their current locations. Still, opponents called it a “mean” piece of legislation that targets LGBTQ+ Kentuckians.
The debate
Republican Bob Heleringer, a former member of the House from Louisville, spoke against the bill on behalf of the Fairness Campaign. (KET screenshot)
Republican Bob Heleringer, a former member of the House from Louisville who spoke for the Fairness Campaign, told lawmakers that the bill is a “bad look” for the Kentucky legislature.
“We’re the party of freedom; we’re the party of liberty; we’re the party of treating people as individuals,” he said. “We’re the party of business; we’re the party of getting government out of our lives, keeping it small and not intrusive. And this is the antithesis of that.”
He called the bill a move to “codify discrimination” and “codify bigotry.”
“You get to be in a free country, you get to be prejudiced against gay people,” Heleringer said. “As an individual, you get to be prejudiced against Catholics, Jews, Mexicans, Black people, white people, straight people. You want to be prejudiced? We live in a free country and you can do that. When you write it in the law, that’s different. That’s wrong.”
Rep. Chris Fugate, R-Chavies, speaks on the House floor, March 13, 2024. (LRC Public Information)
Rep. Chris Fugate, R-Chavies, said the bill, which he voted for, “is not about hating gay people at all.”
“Freedom is not the ability to do what we want to do,” he said. “If that were true, then we would let people kill people who think they have the right to kill people.”
Fugate also said a “young man” recently came into his church “dressed as a young lady” and “my heart breaks for him.”
“Society has become a society that causes confusion,” Fugate said. “Somewhere along the line, somebody’s abused that young man, no doubt.”
“Somebody has added to his confusion. These drag queen shows and all this garbage —” Fugate said, before switching gears to address someone shaking their head at him. “You can shake your head ‘no’ at me. You don’t intimidate me; you don’t scare me. The truth’s the truth.”
House Democratic Whip Rep. Rachel Roberts, D-Newport, said Fugate’s words “sent me so back on my heels” with the example that his heart broke “for someone because they were dressed differently.”
“I wonder if your heart would break if I had shown up wearing a tie today?” asked Roberts, who voted against the bill and called it mean. “I wonder if your heart breaks because I have short hair.”
Rep. Stephanie Dietz, R-Edgewood, said she believes “the vulgarity that is in some of those parades” is from outside of Kentucky and not from the LGBTQ+ community in her constituency.
“I have a real diverse district and I want to be sensitive,” said Dietz. She voted for the bill. “And I feel differently than some of my colleagues. I have a niece that is gay. I have people that live in my neighborhood that are gay.”
She added: “I have a little bit different perspective of how I view that population. I don’t share the same sentiments that…someone’s sick or that we need to change them.”
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