Alabama House Majority Leader Scott Stadthagen (R-Hartselle) said he plans to reintroduce a bill next session that will ban drag shows events where minors are present.
The law would have prohibited any “sexual or gender-oriented material that knowingly exposes minors to persons who are dressed in sexually revealing, exaggerated, or provocative clothing or costumes, or are stripping, or engaged in lewd or lascivious dancing, presentations, or activities in K-12 public schools, public libraries, and other public places where minors are expected and are known to be present without parental consent.”
The House State Government Committee had advanced the legislation, but it failed to make it through before the end of the session.
Stadthagen discussed the issue Wednesday on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program.”
“I’m very disappointed that didn’t cross the finish line,” Stadthagen said. “So next year, I’ll definitely be pushing that again.”
The Majority Leader said this law is about protecting children from material deemed sexually inappropriate.
“[W]hatever an adult does behind closed doors, we could care less,” he argued, “but when you start indoctrinating kids and putting them in that situation, that environment, to expose them to that, that’s when we have to draw the line to do something.”
“Here recently we’ve seen several events that they’re having, just all over the state,” he added. “And once again, you know, if it’s an adult setting, I don’t have a problem with that. But when you bring kids in and start indoctrinating them and making them accept this as the norm, that’s when we have a problem.”
Stadthagen also believes the Supreme Court will uphold another Alabama law that prohibits gender affirming medicines and surgeries for minors.
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“And I think at the end of the day, that is a surgery that’s done to a child that cannot be reversed,” he explained. “It will ruin their lives and you will hear the other side talk about suicide that takes place with those types of kids dealing with that stuff. Nothing more will drive them into a deep hole of depression than having a sex change operation and regretting it.”
The Supreme Court announced this week that this will take up the case involving a Tennessee law similar to Alabama’s law that restricts puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors.
Stadthagen emphasized that it just makes sense that minors are not ready to make those kinds of decisions.
“You can’t get a tattoo when you are 14,” he said. “You cannot drink alcohol. You cannot smoke cigarettes. You should not be able to have a sexual operation change like that. I mean, if you’re an adult, and you choose to do that, that is your own business. But I mean, yes, I think the Supreme Court will uphold it and then it’ll become law and we won’t have any more problems with this.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
