Republican lawmakers in the US are leaning into outdated definitions of obscenity to outlaw drag and ban books too

For five months this year, homosexuality was prohibited in a Tennessee college town.

In June, the city council of Murfreesboro enacted an ordinance outlawing “indecent exposure, public indecency, lewd behavior, nudity or sexual conduct”. The rule did not explicitly mention homosexuality, but LGBTQ+ people in the town quickly realized that the ordinance references 21-72 of the city code, which categorizes homosexuality as an act of indecent sexual conduct.

The ordinance was essentially a covert ban on LGBTQ+ existence.

Erin Reed, one of the first and only national journalists to cover the ordinance earlier this year, noted that Murfreesboro isn’t “the only community that has these old archaic bits of code that target homosexuality”.

Earlier this month, following a legal challenge from the ACLU of Tennessee, the government of Murfreesboro removed “homosexuality” from the list of acts defined as “public indecency” by the city code. The small victory came after officials repeatedly refused to issue permits for the BoroPride Festival, citing the new ordinance.

  • oldbaldgrumpy@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I assumed push back as you don’t agree with the actual facts I posted, but didn’t expect you to put blinders on. How do you factually measure how people feel? The answer is clearly you don’t. I said gay marriage was voted down many many MANY times in different states all across the United States. It was, that actually happened. The people that voted against still actually exist, and it’s likely their opinion has not changed just because you don’t like it. How fucking obtuse can one person be?

    • dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I’m so confused. What is this actually in response to? It feels like you’re responding to a different comment rather than OP.

    • lad@programming.dev
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      10 months ago

      Why is it likely that their opinion has not changed? I, for one, change my opinion if I find it doesn’t suit me anymore