ES city officials blast legislative proposal

The Eureka Springs City Council is sending a clear message to the Arkansas Legislature and new Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

If a proposed new law putting strict restrictions on drag shows goes into effect, Eureka Springs will fight it — including possibly not enforcing it — based on a resolution passed by unanimous vote at a Jan. 13 city council meeting that will be sent to the governor’s office.

Council member David Avanzino proposed the resolution to express the council’s “gross disapproval of SB43.”

“And make it known to Governor Huckabee that it will not stand in Eureka Springs, and we will fight this bill,” Avanzino said.

All six council members, Mayor Butch Berry and city attorney Forrest Jacobi spoke in favor of the city voicing opposition to the bill and suggested that if the bill passed, Eureka Springs might not enforce it.

“This bill is not worth the paper and ink it’s printed on,” Jacobi said. “It’s garbage. … the way it’s set up is we’re supposed to follow state law, and I think our police should be instructed, if this ever did see the light of day, and I hope that it does not, we can tell our police we’re not going to enforce this.

“Now, the state might try to send in state troopers and that might create a conflict, but I don’t care.”

Senate Bill 43, which passed the Arkansas Senate by a 29-6 vote on Jan. 24to advance to the House, is sponsored by Sen. Gary Stubblefield of Branch, and is aimed to “classify a drag performance as an adult-oriented business” and to “add additional location restrictions to an adult-oriented business.”

Specifically, the bill adds “a drag performance” to the definition of an adult-oriented business, which includes “an adult arcade, an adult bookstore or video store, an adult cabaret, an adult live entertainment establishment, an adult motion picture theater, an adult theater, a massage establishment that offers adult services, an escort agency, a nude model studio.” The bill goes on to define a “drag performance” as a performance in “which one or more performers: Exhibits a gender identity that is different from the performer’s gender assigned at birth using clothing, makeup, or other accessories that are traditionally worn by members of and are meant to exaggerate the gender identity of the performer’s opposite sex; and sings, lip-synchs, dances, or otherwise performs before an audience of at least two persons for entertainment whether performed for payment or not; and that is intended to appeal to the prurient interest…” District 28 Sen. Bryan King of Green Forest, who represents Eureka Springs in the Senate, voted in favor of the bill, which has a goal of preventing drag performances in front of anyone under 18 years old and in any facility that does not qualify as an “adult-only” business.

The vote and comments from city officials drew frequent applause from the larger-than-normal crowd at the Jan. 24 meeting. In fact, six of 13 people who spoke during public comments spoke against the bill.