Joe.My.God. LGBT News
Brody Levesque reports at the Los Angeles Blade:
U. S. District Court Judge Thomas L. Parker of the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee declared Tennessee’s anti-drag Adult Entertainment Act to be unconstitutional. Parker’s ruling comes after a two-day trial last month. A Shelby County-Memphis based LGBTQ theatre company, Friends of George’s, had sued the state of Tennessee, claiming the law unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
In April Judge Parker ordered a temporary injunction halting the just enacted Tennessee law that criminalizes some drag performances, hours before it was set to take effect Saturday, April 1. In his 15 page ruling ordering the temporary injunction Parker wrote: “If Tennessee wishes to exercise its police power in restricting speech it considers obscene, it must do so within the constraints and framework of the United States Constitution.”
Read the full article.
Parker was nominated to the federal bench by Trump in July 2017. In January 2018, he was confirmed by the US Senate in a unanimous vote.
?? Big news overnight: A Trump-appointed federal judge ruled that Tennessee’s Adult Entertainment Act — yes, the anti-drag law — is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker ruled the AEA violated the First Amendment. pic.twitter.com/7SdH3sHSFP
— The Recount (@therecount) June 3, 2023
Breaking News!!! MEMPHIS U. S. District Court Judge Thomas L. Parker of the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee declared Tennessee’s anti-drag Adult Entertainment Act to be unconstitutional. pic.twitter.com/Oq407GoFmo
— HRC Nashville (@hrc_nash) June 3, 2023
— Andy Craig (@AndrewRCraig) June 3, 2023
BREAKING NEWS LAW DORK: Tennessee’s anti-drag law lost on all fronts. “[L]aws infringing on the Freedom of Speech must be narrow and well-defined.” This law “is neither,” the Trump appointee ruled. https://t.co/CWkwysXqwg
— Law Dork (@lawdorknews) June 3, 2023