LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The cold weather didn't stop state representatives from meeting at the Capitol on Wednesday— and Senate Bill 43 passed through a House Committee with a new amendment. Though there are still lots of questions about what the bill is trying to do.
“We're trying to protect our children, not anti-anybody just, again, keeping sexually explicit material away from our kids,” said State Representative, Mary Bentley.
She is the co-sponsor of Senate Bill 43, which is the bill that would classify a drag performance as an "adult-oriented business.”
“So, we're just trying to keep minors away from sexually explicit material. We're not trying to be anti-anybody, anti-trans anti-anything,” Bentley described. “We've kept kids out of strip clubs, we keep kids out of bars, we keep them from getting a tattoo, we're just adding another area that we want to protect our kids from.”
Bentley told the House committee on Wednesday that this is something her constituents want, but shared that some of her colleagues have been left with questions.
“First, what is seminude? I don't think it's defined in here. So, I’d like your definition of what that even means,” said State Representative Collins.
“Would you agree with me that without an explicit definition, that it's likely that people will be confused by the intent of the bill,” said State Representative Ashley Hudson.
Cooperating Attorney for ACLU Arkansas, Breean Walas, feels that the bill leaves a lot up to personal interpretation.
“When you don't know what the terms mean if an average citizen doesn't know what the terms mean, and then it's unenforceable,” said Walas.
Organizations like Intransitive are against the bill.
That organization helps to provide a safe place for Arkansan's who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Whether the bill passes or not they plan to continue doing their work.
"LGBTQ people deserve to live their truth without fear," said Cynthia Martinez with Intransitive. "We just want to make sure people know that we are here, we want to keep growing, we want to keep supporting the community."
The latest version of the bill updates the definition of a "drag performance" to include a performer who "exaggerates sexual aspects of the masculine or feminine body for entertainment purposes."
“I've heard nothing, nothing about any of this. I've seen none of this happening across the state. “It's not for me to determine or for you to determine it’s for a judge to determine,” said Bentley.