Two Republican Ohio lawmakers have introduced a bill into the Ohio House of Representatives to prohibit adult cabaret performances in front of children.
House Bill (HB) 245, sponsored by State Representatives Angela King (R-Celina) and Josh Williams (R-Sylvania), looks to ban “adult cabaret performances” outside of venues specifically for adult cabarets.
The legislation defines this as any performance in a location other than an adult cabaret that Ohio law considers obscene or harmful to children.
The legislation details that this definition includes “topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, and performers or entertainers who exhibit a gender identity that is different from the performer’s or entertainer’s gender assigned at birth using clothing, makeup, prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts, or other physical markers.”
According to Williams, the bill’s intention is to modernize Ohio’s revised code regarding obscenity viewed by minors, not to ban adult cabaret in Ohio effectively. The proposed measure only prohibits shows and events harmful to juveniles, like the controversial drag queen storytime.
Under current Ohio law, obscenity is a material or performance that, in the eyes of regular people, is intended to “arouse lust by displaying or depicting sexuality activity, masturbation, sexual excitement, or nudity in a way that tends to represent human beings as mere objects of sexual appetite” or arouses lust by “depicting bestiality or extreme or bizarre violence, cruelty or brutality” without serving a scientific, educational, sociological, moral, or artistic purpose.
According to Williams, they introduced this bill to protect Ohio children from seeing explicit performances.
“Just like every other obscene performance in the presence of a minor, there’s a morality issue to it. We don’t want to expose our minors to these types of sexualized performances at a young age,” Williams said.
The Sylvania-based state representative said this legislation “would ban adult performances that are obscene from public parks, parades, and other places children are present. When this bill becomes law it will be unlawful and potentially a felony.”
In the legislation, violators would be charged with a misdemeanor of the first degree if a performance occurs in the presence of a juvenile under the age of 18, a felony of the fifth degree if the performance is obscene, and a felony of the fourth degree if the performance is “obscene” and occurs in the presence of a juvenile under the age of 13.
Lawmakers modeled the bill’s language after a Tennessee law that bans “adult cabaret performances” in all locations other than an “adult cabaret.” The lawmakers said they went through six different drafts before settling on the final language in HB 245.
The legislation has garnered the support of 43 out of the 67 Republican House Representatives as co-sponsors.
The lawmakers introduced the legislation into the Ohio House, which is awaiting committee assignment.
The Ohio Star reached out to Williams and King for comment. A spokesperson for Williams told The Star that Williams was unavailable for comment. King did not respond with a comment before press time.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star, The Star News Network, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
