COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A bill that’s set to be discussed during the 88th legislative session has critics speaking out against it.
S.B. 476, along with several other bills, seeks to include drag performances under the umbrella of what are currently considered “sexually-oriented businesses.”
Under the Local Government Code Title 7, Subtitle C, Chapter 243, certain sexually oriented businesses are not allowed within a certain proximity of notable, common buildings within most cities including schools, neighborhoods, or places of worship.
If the bill were to pass, it would add new regulations to drag businesses across the Lone Star State.
Cora Cadette, a College Station drag queen who requested to not have their legal name published, said this contradicts most Texas lawmakers’ points-of-view. Cadette adds that most republicans favor little government control over small businesses, but these new bills would contradict those beliefs.
“The people that put these bills forward, they’re all about small business. They’re all about less government restrictions, and what are they doing? They’re adding all of those things on so they’re going to impact those small businesses,” said Cadette.
Cadette was the 2021 winner for Draggieland, a drag show that is held in Bryan-College Station nearly every year. Cadette said this is more than the businesses that will be impacted but could eliminate an art form that they and many people support.
“It’s more than just that one performance or that one check that we’re getting. It’s something bigger than ourselves,” said Cadette.
KAGS has reached out several times to the author of S.B. 476, State Senator Bryan Hughes, who has yet to comment on the matter.