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Federal judge blocks Montana’s anti-drag ban

2023-07-31 00:00:00.0 独立报-美国政治原网页

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A federal judge in Montana has temporarily blocked enforcement of a sweeping state law against drag performances days before one of the biggest Pride events in the state begins.

The temporary restraining order from US District Judge Brian Morris, who was appointed to the court by Barack Obama, argues that the law is undeniably an unconstitutional threat to speech that will “disproportionately harm not only drag performers, but any person who falls outside traditional gender and identity norms,” including transgender and Two-Spirit people.

“Constitutional violations, moreover, never serve the public interest,” he wrote in the filing on 28 July.

Montana’s law “appears to suffer from similar ‘constitutional maladies’” as similar drag bans that were also overturned in federal courts in Florida and Tennessee, according to Judge Morris.

“Chilled speech” and exposure to potential criminal liability under the law could imperil thousands of Montana residents celebrating Pride throughout the state in coming days without an order to block it, he wrote.

Recommended Neo-Nazis can’t stop Pride in Montana: ‘Yes, we are under attack. But we will not be quiet’ Montana LGBT+ advocates sue state over ‘Frankenstein’s monster’ drag ban

The order – issued two days before Helena’s Pride celebrates its 30th anniversary – follows a lawsuit from a group of LGBT+ advocates and a transgender woman who appears to be the first person targeted by the law, which plaintiffs called “a Frankenstein’s monster” and a “calculated” attack on LGBT+ people that “overshoots this sinister mark” and “threatens teachers, artists, small businesses, and cultural and scientific institutions with criminal and professional sanctions.”

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