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PADUCAH — The Senate and House have received two identical bills aimed at restricting where adult businesses can operate. This is a concern for local business owners who are concerned about how vague the bill is.
House Bill 402 and Senate Bill 147 describe “adult businesses” as places that host adult books, adult stores, and drag shows.
Under the bill, a drag show is a performance in which a person or group sings, lip-syncs, dances, or performs in front of an audience while appearing to be of the opposite sex through exaggerated makeup, clothing, or other physical markers. It has been described as a performance with
Paducah Beer Works is a local business that hosts drag performances.
“We’ve been doing drag shows for at least three or four years,” Blume said.
The bill’s sponsors, Representative Nancy Tate and Senator Lindsey Titchener, held a joint press conference. Tate said the bill is all about protecting children.
“It’s our responsibility as adults to protect the purity of our minds and bodies,” Tate said.
Blume said several things and highlighted other ways to “protect the innocent.”
“Do you want to protect your children? Well, I think Jon Stewart said it best. What is the number one cause of child death? And let me tell you, it’s not a drag show. . Guns. If they really want to protect their children, “There are a lot of other things they can go out and do. They can look at health care, they can look at gun control. There are other things they can do,” Blume said.
Blume said the bill would directly impact his business due to location.
“It also says you can’t perform within 900 feet of a church. We have a church two doors down, so we won’t be able to do any more performances,” he said.
Tara Markham serves on the Paducah Pride Fest Committee. She remembers when the Senate tried to pass a similar bill last year.
That bill, Senate Bill 115, did not pass out of committee.
“So our community is in a state of panic trying to figure out the unknown and what our event will look like,” Markham said.
She also stressed that everyone needs to read the bill carefully.
“Read it directly from the bill. Both are very elusive,” Markham said.
Both Markham and Bloom are concerned that the bill is “elusive” or “unclear.”
“If a girl in jeans and a T-shirt and a hat comes here and sings in a punk band or sings in a band, is that a drug? It’s just something they decide they don’t like,” he said. Now you can lose business. You can have your license revoked because one or more people don’t like certain things,” Blume said.
Neither bill has passed out of committee.
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