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The story also contains sexually explicit content.
After a heated debate in the Kentucky Senate, Senate Bill 115 — which seeks to ban drag shows in public — passed and will now head to the House for consideration.
Before the bill passed, Sen. Karen Berg (D-Louisville) asked the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Lindsey Tichenor (R-Oldham), if she had ever attended a drag show.
“Yes,” Tichenor said, further saying she’s been to one in Kentucky.
“Did you find it sexually arousing?” Berg questioned before being called out of order by Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer (R-Georgetown).
Berg ceded her question. The Louisville legislator has been an outspoken critic of several bills opponents say are targeting the LGBTQ community this legislative session.
Last week, the bill cleared the Senate Veterans Military, Public Affairs, and Public Protection Committee, where Berg and Tichenor also had another tense exchange.
“For some reason, people want this type of content in front of children, and I would dare ask ‘Why, why do we need to sexualize our children?’” Tichenor said to the committee
“Is it appropriate for a child to watch a man imitating anal sex with another man on stage? Is that appropriate?” Tichenor questioned while showing pictures from a performance of A Drag Queen Christmas — a traveling show that requires tickets to be purchased.
The show didn’t come to Kentucky.
“The hate you give is the hate you get,” Berg said to Tichenor before the committee chair Sen.
Russell Webber (R-Shepherdsivlle), requested Berg stop her testimony.
Berg’s son, Henry, a transgender man, committed suicide last year and Berg has often been one of the most outspoken voices against SB115 in the legislature.
“I can tell you from my personal experience of the day I buried my child here in Kentucky, my proud trans child, the last thing he did at work before he went home and killed himself was to send out a press release to the country from the Human Rights Campaign warning us of what was coming,” Berg said during the committee.
Berg has also been outspoken against House Bill 470 — a bill that aims to ban gender-affirming care for children — and Senate Bill 150, which gives teachers the option to call a student their preferred pronouns.
The latter bill caused Berg to break down in tears on the Senate floor in February. Consoled by former House Rep. Patti Minter, Berg walked hallway where audible cries could be heard in the Senate chamber.
“I am going to make an open plea to the members of this body that we avoid politicizing issues that are literally killing our children,” Berg said on the Senate floor regarding SB150.
Proponents of SB115 say it’s a law that will protect children.
Tichenor introduced a new version of the bill at the beginning of the committee meeting last week that saw SB115 drastically change from its original version.
The bill’s first version focused on banning drag shows and other so-called explicit performances from taking place within 1,000 feet of residences, parks, schools, and other locations. The new version focuses on banning performers from public performances where kids could be present, such as libraries and public parks.
NKY Sen. Gex Williams (R-Verona) said on the Senate floor Friday that the bill is about love for children — a sentiment he expressed earlier in the session.
“I think if you look at this bill, you see it’s for the love of children,” Williams said after the VMAPP committee where SB115 passed last week.
Further, he said the committee was concerned with rising suicide rates, including Sen. Berg’s son, over what he deemed to be an issue with transgender people taking drugs to change their biological sex.
“When you introduce drugs, and you try to fight 30 or 40 trillion cells in your body, using drugs, the outcome is not going to be good,” Williams said.
