A federal appeals court has upheld a Florida law that bans children from attending drag shows and other “adult live performances.”
Signed into law in 2023 by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Protection of Children Act specifically bars adults from knowingly admitting children to “adult live performances” that are clearly harmful to kids.
Shortly after the law took effect in May of 2023, the drag-themed casual dining restaurant chain Hamburger Mary’s sued.
Hamburger Mary’s, which had a history of hosting supposedly family-friendly drag shows, argued “that the measure was too broad and unconstitutionally vague, and infringed on First Amendment rights,” according to The Advocate.
A month later, U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell issued a 24-page injunction blocking Florida from enforcing the law on the grounds that the law was “specifically designed to suppress the speech of drag queen performers.”
Presnell is a Clinton appointee.
ICYMI: Friday afternoon, a federal judge blocked what many have called Florida’s ban on drag shows.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell issued a temporary injunction on SB 1438 saying it is “specifically designed to suppress the speech of drag queen performers.” pic.twitter.com/kWpSH2VuAm
— Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, PhD 🔨 (@AnnaForFlorida) June 28, 2023
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation Secretary Melanie Griffin filed an appeal later that same month. Two years later in May of 2025, an Eleventh Circuit panel affirmed the injunction.
However, Florida then asked the full court to review the decision. They, in turn, decided on Tuesday to drop the injunction and uphold the law.
The bad news is the case isn’t over yet — it “now heads back to a trial court in Orlando,” according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
The good news is the court ruled that Hamburger Mary’s “failed to establish a substantial likelihood” that it’ll ultimately win its case in the long-term.
“In any event, the Act is consistent with a legislative intent to target drag shows that are obscene for children, not drag shows writ large,” Circuit Judge Andrew Brasher wrote, debunking the claim that the law unfairly targets all drag shows.
Florida celebrated the ruling:
Huge victory for our team at the 11th Circuit! After 3 years of litigation, the full court affirmed the constitutionality of Florida’s ban on children attending sexualized drag shows.
Great work by Solicitor General Dave Dewhirst, who argued the case on the state’s behalf! pic.twitter.com/8QqgdNbDdG
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) August 4, 2026
“We appreciate today’s decision from the 11th Circuit affirming Florida’s Protection of Children Act,” Griffin tweeted. “Thanks to @GovRonDeSantis ’ leadership, #DBPR remains committed to protecting children from inappropriate and sexually charged performances and helping our licensees understand their responsibilities under Florida’s law.”
DBPR is short for the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
Some judges dissented. Circuit Judge Robin Rosenbaum, an Obama appointee, said that “the state intentionally created this statute to ‘chill drag’ and that the vague language ‘serves as an especially pernicious club to silence political speech,'” according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
“Under this form of jurisprudence, a citizen can learn whether a law prohibits their speech only by taking a wild guess, presenting their speech, and then seeing if they get arrested and face imprisonment, thousands of dollars in fines, and loss of their business license,” she added.
Melissa Stewart, a representative for Hamburger Mary’s of Orlando, issued a post-ruling statement echoing the rogue judge’s arguments.
She accused the court of having “held that the State may target speech it dislikes and strip parents of their right to determine what is appropriate for their own children.”
“We believe that the First Amendment’s protections are more robust than that,” she continued. “This litigation is not over, and we will continue fighting to protect free speech in the state of Florida.”
Critics argue that THIS is not free speech (*graphic content warning):
This happened at a Hamburger Mary’s, which, for those who don’t know, is a drag restaurant and bar with dozens of locations across the country.
The drag queen hid his prosthetic breasts when he saw the kid, for which we commend him for. The issue here is with the parents and the… pic.twitter.com/HHNPLdAtBH
— Gays Against Groomers (@againstgrmrs) April 23, 2024
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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