Montana Drag Performance and Reading Ban Challenged in Court

Opponents seek to have the law declared unconstitutional without a trial, arguing it restricts free speech and targets the LGBTQ+ community.

Opponents of a Montana law that restricts drag performances and bans drag reading events at public schools and libraries have asked a federal judge to declare the law unconstitutional without a trial.
The law was passed by the Republican-controlled 2023 Montana Legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte. Montana is the only state to ban people dressed in drag from reading books to children at public schools and libraries, even if the performance does not include sexual content.
U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris granted a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the law last month, stating that it targets free speech and expression and that the text of the law and its legislative history 'evince anti-LGBTQ+ animus.'
Plaintiffs argue that the law is an unconstitutional content- and viewpoint-based restriction on speech and that it does not clearly define what actions are illegal, leading people to censor their own speech out of concern for violating the law.
The state of Montana argued that the plaintiffs don’t have any legal claims to make because 'the State Defendants have taken no action to enforce or implement,' the law and the plaintiffs haven’t suffered any harm.