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Steven J. Mulroy, the Shelby County district attorney who was listed as the defendant in the lawsuit due to his official role in that jurisdiction, said in a statement that he supported the decision on the measure. “I look forward to not enforcing it,” he said.
Regina L. Hillman, an assistant professor of law at the University of Memphis who challenged laws banning marriage equality in the state, said that though the ruling was not binding outside of Shelby County, “it’s certainly heavily, heavily persuasive.”
“The analysis is not limited, regarding the constitutionality of it,” she added, noting that it is likely that other challenges emerge elsewhere in the state that cite Judge Parker’s findings. Should there be an appeal, she said, that ruling could also result in a broader decision for the entire state.
Judge Parker acknowledged what he described as a “compelling state interest in protecting the physical and psychological well-being of minors.” But he pointed to comments from Mr. Todd and other lawmakers during debate and testimony in the State Legislature earlier this year as evidence that the law was “geared toward placing prospective blocks on drag shows — regardless of their potential harm to minors.”
The judge also noted that drag, though not specifically mentioned in the law, served as “the one common thread” in examples of conduct described as harmful to minors.
With a nod to Elvis Presley, one of Tennessee’s most impersonated singers, the judge sketched out a scenario where a woman performing in an Elvis costume was far more likely to face punishment under the law than a man and questioned whether an Elvis impersonator of either gender would be wholly protected under the law.
The law, he said, “targets the viewpoint of gender identity.”
Judge Parker also took issue with the decision to use the phrase “male or female impersonators.” Referring to the decision by lawmakers to group those people with exotic dancers, topless dancers and strippers, he said that while “doing so may have escaped many readers’ scrutiny in 1987, it may not do so with ease in 2023.”
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