Blount Pride Attendance Doubles After DA Threatens to Prosecute
metroweekly.comstate law seeking to prohibit drag shows by classifying them as “adult cabaret performances.”Blount Pride, a festival featuring music, art, drag performances, and a community resource fair, is held annually in Maryville, Tennessee, less than a half-hour outside Knoxville.This year’s celebration was scheduled to take place during an eight-hour time slot on Saturday, Sept.
2, on the campus of Maryville College. Just days before the event was to take place, Blount County District Attorney Ryan Desmond sent a letter to Blount Pride organizers, the President of Maryville College, and local elected and law enforcement officials, warning that he intended to prosecute them if they violated the “Adult Entertainment Act,” which bans “male or female impersonators” from performing in public spaces, or in places where minors might view drag performances.The law, which likens drag shows to acts where full or partial nudity occurs, such as topless dancing and strip acts, was passed by Republicans earlier this year.
It is part of a nationwide push by conservatives to outlaw public expressions of LGBTQ visibility, based on the assumption that exposure to LGBTQ identity sexualizes children and influences them to identify as LGBTQ.A federal judge in West Tennessee previously issued a temporary injunction blocking the state from enforcing the law in Shelby County, which includes Memphis.But Desmond insisted that the law remains in effect outside of Shelby County.In the letter to local officials and Blount Pride organizers, he said that he was empowered to prosecute anyone found to be violating the law in Blount County. “It is clear from the holding and subsequent order [in the Shelby County case] that this enjoinder is presently only applicable to the 30th Judicial District,” Desmond wrote. “It is my conclusion that violations of the AEA can and will be prosecuted by my office.”In response, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the attorney general, Attorney General Jonathan.
