Montana Judge Gets It Dead Wrong — Drag Queens Do Cause Harm To Children

One of the biggest lies in our liberal society is the idea that “harm” is limited to something that causes a physical or financial injury. This libertarian and liberal concept completely ignores the very real nature of moral and spiritual harms that can be inflicted upon others — and especially on children.

In her essay addressing this misguided notion, “Law, Liberalism, and the Common Good,” Australian legal scholar Jacqueline Laing provides a devasting critique of the underlying belief that downplays moral spiritual harm in what she calls the rise of “Modern Liberal Autonomy (MLA)” as a governing principle of jurisprudence. She explains that “according to this principle, if consenting adults want to do something, unless it does a specific harm to others here and now, the law has no business intervening. Harm to the self and general harm to society can constitute no justification for legal regulation or prohibition.”

As I explain elsewhere, “What does this mean, practically? It means that, if a culture adopts this way of understanding the purpose of law and the common good, it becomes virtually impossible to limit any number of real societal harms that should be outlawed altogether or, at the very least, legally constrained. For example, think of no-fault divorce, abortion, incest, pornography, private drug use, prostitution, giving puberty blockers to kids, etc.”

Or, as a prime example now, drag queen story hours for children.

This issue is coming to a head in the state of Montana. On October 13, the Associated Press reported,

“A federal judge in Montana is continuing to block enforcement of a law that puts restrictions on drag shows and bans drag reading events in public schools and libraries, saying Friday that the law targets free speech and expression and that the text of the law and its legislative history ‘evince anti-LGBTQ+ animus.’”

The proposed statute in question was signed into law by Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, R, back in May, making Montana the first state in America to specifically ban drag queens from reading books to children in public schools and libraries. One of the main reasons that the Montana legislature argued this was necessary is because of the perverse, sexually abusive nature of drag queen story hours — which consist of grown men dressing in disgusting cross-sex costumes and flaunting their degeneracy in front of children for personal kicks.

The state of Montana argued: “The legislature determined sexually oriented performances and drag reading events to be indecent and inappropriate for minors and potentially harmful.”

But the liberal judge refuses to see this reality. In granting the injunction, U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris argued that “No evidence before the Court indicates that minors face any harm from drag-related events or other speech and expression critical of gender norms.”

Judge Morris further wrote that the law’s “terms prove vague and overbroad, chilling protected speech and creating a risk of disproportionate enforcement against trans, Two-Spirit, and gender-nonconforming people.”

This is the absolutely abysmal state of affairs in American jurisprudence. Judge Morris has been completely captured by the principle of “modern legal autonomy” and is therefore unable to see how real harm — moral and spiritual harm — is done to the children who are forced to witness the sexual immorality of a man dressed up like a freakish female clown.

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, addressed this in a recent episode of his daily podcast, “The Briefing,” saying:

“Now get this, the lawyers for those who would be engaged in drag queen shows and all the rest said, ‘The state hasn’t argued meaningfully that the speech targeted by the law beyond the obscenity already regulated is potentially harmful to children.’ In other words, the claim here is there’s no documented proof that gender confusion or, in this case, even drag shows are harmful to children and teenagers — youth.

Where’s the evidence? They say, ‘We demand clear evidence of harm,’ and of course any sane society would understand that the exposure itself is a form of harm, and you’re really looking at what our society seems increasingly committed to, and that is the removal of all context of innocence or of protection when it comes to children and teenagers.

And that’s really interesting because the rules are off here simply because of the LGBTQ revolution. Before this revolution with L and G and B and T driving as the engines of this revolution, before that, no one would’ve thought it controversial to say, ‘This kind of sexually explicit imagery, acting, costuming, and all the rest in front of children would be harmful to children. It would be an inducement; it would be a confusion. It would be in one sense, legally defined, a corruption.’”

Mohler is spot on in his assessment. To say something like “We demand evidence of harm” when the evidence is staring you in the face — a man wearing makeup, a dress, and sometimes even devil horns — is patently absurd.

What will be the result of this type of approach to the law, child protection, and morality in America? Mohler argues it spells nothing less than the end of civilization.

“So, here you have a federal judge basically saying, ‘Unless you can prove a specific harm, and of course that requires a definition of harm, if you can’t define flamboyant, how exactly are you going to define harm?’

What he’s saying here is that society has no right to put a restriction on drag queen story hour or on flamboyant, even sexually explicit drag events, because there’s no specific proof that any harm comes to young people by these ‘drag-related events or other speech and expression critical of gender norms.’

Once again, you take the entire civilization and you basically say, ‘Be done with that.’”

As Christians, parents, and conservatives, we know this is not the answer. We are called by God to protect our children from evil and harm, which means to not willingly expose them to sexual perversion. That expectation from God doesn’t end at the door of the household, either. God also calls on politicians and judges everywhere to rule justly, protecting the most vulnerable among us.

Judge Morris got this ruling wrong. Dead wrong. Drag queens do cause harm to children. And if we can’t wake up and see this ugly truth, our very civilization is on the brink of destruction.

If you like this article and other content that helps you apply a biblical worldview to today’s politics and culture, consider making a donation here.