Transgender woman, bookstore, teacher sue over Montana law banning drag reading events
A transgender woman, the owners of an independent bookstore and an educator who teaches in costume are among those challenging Montana's first-in-the-nation law that bans people dressed in drag from reading to children in public schools or libraries
HELENA, Mont. — A transgender woman, the owners of an independent bookstore and an educator who teaches in costume are among those challenging Montana's first-in-the-nation law that bans people dressed in drag from reading to children in public schools or libraries.
The federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Butte argues the law violates the free speech and equal protection guarantees in the U.S. Constitution.
The plaintiffs seek an injunction to temporarily block the law, a ruling that the law is unconstitutional and damages for Adria Jawort, whose planned talk on LGBTQ+ history at the Butte-Silver Bow Public Library was canceled in early June by county officials who cited the new legislation.
Similar laws in other states have been temporarily blocked while legal challenges play out in court.
The complaint calls the Montana law, sponsored by Republican Rep. Braxton Mitchell, “a breathtakingly ambiguous and overbroad bill, motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ animus.”
Like many Republican-led states, Montana’s conservative lawmakers also passed laws in recent sessions targeting transgender people. The state is among those to ban gender-affirming care for minors — which is also being challenged in court — and also passed a bill defining sex in state law as only male or female.
Montana became the first state to specifically ban drag kings and drag queens — defined as performers who adopt a flamboyant or parodic male or female persona with glamorous or exaggerated costumes and makeup — from
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