{"id":204242,"date":"2026-03-29T20:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T01:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=204242"},"modified":"2026-03-29T20:45:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T01:45:03","slug":"ohio-house-passes-drag-show-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/03\/29\/ohio-house-passes-drag-show-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio House passes drag show bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Megan Henry\/Ohio Capital Journal<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COLUMBUS — The Ohio House has passed a bill that would ban drag shows in public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House voted 63-30 to pass Ohio House Bill 249 during last Wednesday\u2019s session. Ohio State Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, joined Ohio Democratic House members in voting no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such bans in other states have been repeatedly shot down by courts as unconstitutional government censorship of freedom of speech and expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill now goes to the Ohio Senate for consideration.  <\/p>\n\n\n

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Republican state Reps. Angie King and Josh Williams introduced the bill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt closes a loophole that allows adult oriented sexual performances to fill into the public spaces where children are present,\u201d King claimed. \u201cThe only purpose is to protect children and protect the innocence of Ohio\u2019s children in both public and private spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill would prohibit an adult cabaret performance from taking place outside an adult cabaret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also broadens the definition of adult cabaret performances to include \u201cperformers or entertainers who exhibit a gender identity that is different from the performer\u2019s or entertainer\u2019s gender assigned at birth using clothing, makeup, prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts, or other physical markers.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill lumps drag performers in with topless dancers, go-go dancers, strippers, and exotic dancers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has a specific carve-out to say that it wouldn\u2019t \u201cprohibit or restrict a bona fide film, theatrical, or other artistic endeavor or performance that is not obscene or harmful to juveniles.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill also exempts breastfeeding from indecent exposure statutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Critics say the bill is vague and will create uncertainty and a chilling effect amid the threat of government censorship and felony charges under imprecise, overly broad language, though sponsors downplayed this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll this bill does is say you can\u2019t engage in obscene performances in the presence of a minor,\u201d Williams claimed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Penalties in the bill range from a first degree misdemeanor if a performance happens in front of a juvenile, a fourth degree felony if the performance is obscene and happened in front of someone 12 years old and younger, and a fifth degree felony if the performance is obscene.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio House Rep. Dontavius Jarrells, D-Columbus, said the bill singles out transgender people and those who are gender non-conforming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you talk about what this bill really is \u2026 it is an attack on human lives,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio House Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, D-Gahanna, said this bill is not needed to protect Ohio\u2019s children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m embarrassed that we are spending any time at all on a culture war bill that doesn\u2019t make our communities safer, but does have the potential to cost taxpayer dollars, to threaten economic activity and to frighten into hiding some of our already vulnerable community members,\u201d she said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, claimed that calling the bill a drag ban bill is not accurate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt essentially is prohibiting certain displays of nudity to children,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, questions why the legislature is prioritizing this bill.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe majority in the legislature is focused on drag shows, while Ohioans are worried about how to pay the bills,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The uncertainty of what the bill does and does not criminalize will cause some businesses to relocate or choose another state, Piccolantonio said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt will result in some organizations choosing another state for their conventions or for their events,\u201d she said. \u201cUltimately, there will be some degree of economic loss to the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equality Ohio said this bill would also ban sports bras. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn plain English, this bill gives government the unacceptable power to police what people wear. Drag is just the beginning,\u201d CEO & Executive Director of Equality Ohio Dwayne Steward said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis bill takes regular, everyday activities and turns them into potential crimes, based on whether somebody else might be offended by what other people are wearing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performers including Nina West testified against the bill in committee meetings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This type of law has been blocked in other states for violating freedom of speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Texas law banning some drag performers in public space went into effect last week, despite an ongoing lawsuit challenging the law.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A federal appeals court recently upheld an injunction against Montana\u2019s drag ban. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huffman believes Ohio\u2019s bill is constitutional, but said \u201calmost certainly it\u2019s going to go to court\u201d if it becomes law. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Megan Henry\/Ohio Capital Journal COLUMBUS — The Ohio House has passed a bill that would ban drag shows in public. The House voted 63-30 to pass Ohio House Bill 249 during last Wednesday\u2019s session. Ohio State Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, joined Ohio Democratic House members in voting no. Such bans in other states have been repeatedly shot down by courts as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 00:23:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204242"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204297,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204242\/revisions\/204297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}