Judge temporarily strikes down Tennessee law restricting drag performances
On Friday night, Judge Thomas Parker issued a temporary restraining order. A federal judge in Tennessee has paused the state's new law restricting public drag performance s just hours before the legislation was set to take effect. In a ruling on Friday night, Judge Thomas Parker delayed enforcement of H.B. 9 for 14 days while the court considers its constitutionality. The ruling marked a temporary victory for Friends of George, a theater company that puts on drag shows and claimed that the newly-passed legislation, which was signed by Gov. Bill Lee, R-Tenn., infringed on its First Amendment rights. "Within our country's federal framework, states are laboratories of democracy that can test laws and policies enacted by The People," Parker wrote. The outside of Atomic Rose where spectators watch a drag performance ahead of the implementation of a Tennessee law restricting drag in front of minors that is due to come into force on April 1 at Atomic Rose in Memphis, Tenn....