Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday endorsed a controversial bill that would classify "drag performances" as an adult-oriented business.
Asked during a news conference if she would sign Senate Bill 43, Sanders said she was supportive of the legislation in its current form and would "continue to take steps and do things that I believe will protect the children of Arkansas."
"I think we have to do everything — I've been very clear and talked about this pretty extensively — to protect children. I think that's what this bill does," Sanders said.
The bill has not yet reached her desk.
Sponsored by Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, the bill would define a "drag performance" as a show involving at least one performer who exhibits a "gender identity that is different from the performer's gender assigned at birth." The performance must be held before an audience of at least two people for entertainment and has to appeal to the "prurient interest."
The bill has drawn sharp opposition in recent weeks from critics who say it could infringe on the rights of transgender people and ban certain plays.
The Arkansas Senate approved the bill Tuesday in a 29-6 vote along party lines. Stubblefield, like Sanders, has described the bill as a measure needed to protect children.
"I can't think of anything good that can come from taking children and putting them in front of a bunch of grown men dressed like women," Stubblefield told senators before the vote Tuesday. "Morally we are going down a funnel."
Stubblefield has said his bill would not apply to theatrical performances that feature cross-dressing actors such as Shakespearean dramas.
Democratic senators raised concerns that the bill would limit the rights of transgender people and violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Opponents also have said the phrase"prurient interest" — which Stubblefield defines as showing "excessive interests in sexual matters — is not legally well-defined and could apply to plays and events such as drag queens reading storybooks to children.
The vote in the Senate on Tuesday sent the bill to the House for further action.