NAPLES, FL – Liberty Counsel filed an amicus brief in federal district court in Naples Pride v. City of Naples on behalf of several concerned Collier County parents to prevent an indecent and sexually explicit drag show from being performed outdoors in front of children at an upcoming June “pride” festival. The Naples City Council recently voted 5-2 to move the drag show indoors and put an adults-only restriction on the event to shield impressionable children.

Naples Pride, an LGBTQ advocacy group, and the ACLU then sued seeking a preliminary injunction that requires the city to issue the group a special events permit without any of the imposed location or age restrictions. A preliminary injunction hearing will take place tomorrow, May 2, at 10 a.m. in the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida.

While Naples Pride characterizes the drag show as “family friendly,” several parents of young children who frequent Cambier Park where the festival has been held previously strongly disagree. In the brief, they present photographic documentation of scenes from a 2022 outdoor show held just 100 feet from a children’s playground. These images depict male performers in obscene drag performing lewd poses and simulating sexual acts that are unsuitable for minors. The drag performers also invited children to place money in their waste bands like strippers in a bar as the men shook their over-stuffed brazier tops and “twerked” their fish net covered hind ends mimicking sexual activities no child should ever see. The scenes are revolting and totally inappropriate for children.

The city of Naples revoked the group’s permit to use the park after these lewd 2022 performances, and the Naples Pride was forced to take their sexual deviancy celebration behind closed doors. In 2023 and 2024, the event was held inside and away from children in the park. But this year, the same group wants to publicly display their scantily clad bodies to visually assault the children and indoctrinate them.  

However, in 2023, the Florida legislature acted passing SB 1438, the “Protection of Children Act.” This act, now law under FL Statute Section 4, 827.11 (1)(a), makes it a crime to conduct an “Adult Live Performance” in front of children. 

According to the law, “adult live performance” isn't simply limited to drag shows, but “any show, exhibition, or other presentation in front of a live audience which, in whole or in part, depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or specific sexual activities...lewd conduct, or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts.” 

Despite a federal judge narrowly blocking enforcement of that law for a single Florida agency, that ruling is under appeal and “does not erase or suspend” the law itself.

Liberty Counsel also notes that Naples’ permitting process is structured to balance both free expression under the First Amendment while maintaining public safety and protecting children from obscenity.

As U.S. Supreme Court precedents have made clear, the government has a “compelling interest in protecting the physical and psychological well-being of minors,” which “extends to shielding minors” from indecent material.

“The city’s requirement that the drag show be held indoors and out of view of children passes constitutional muster because it is well-settled that the government has a compelling interest in protecting children,” wrote Liberty Counsel. “There is no constitutional interest in exhibiting indecent material to minors.”

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The Naples City Council rightfully voted down exposing children to lewd, indecent, or sexually explicit displays. The First Amendment does not protect obscene drag performances in full view of a children’s playground. Protected free speech for adults can be lawfully restricted for children without violating the Constitution. Citizens do not have to tolerate obscene drag shows in view of their children.”

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