House State Affairs committee passes bill prohibiting ‘obscene live conduct’ at colleges

The House State Affairs committee voted Monday morning to advance a bill prohibiting the Board of Regents or any institution under its control from using state resources for obscene live conduct.

Rep. Chris Karr’s (R-Sioux Falls) bill represents his second year of bringing legislation on this topic. In 2023, he sponsored and cosponsored bills aimed at preventing a student-led drag show held in November 2022 at South Dakota State University from ever happening again.

Drag became popular in 19th century British theater and has heavy roots in modern LGBTQ+ culture for its performance and entertainment styles that challenge traditional assumptions of gender identity and expression.

While Karr said in his rebuttal on Monday that opponents to his bill misunderstood it because he never mentioned drag or drag shows in his testimony Monday, opponent testimony and testimony from previous bill hearings indicates that’s where the focus lies.

A similar bill, House Bill 1113, to “prohibit the use of state resources for the provision of lewd or lascivious content,” was killed earlier in the session and mirrored the bills Karr brought in 2023, House Bill 1116 and House Bill 1125.

More: House committee kills bill aimed at limiting drag performances on South Dakota campuses

In introducing his bill, Karr said it would complement a policy by the South Dakota Board of Regents that prohibits minors who aren’t university students from attending events or being on campus without the supervision of an authorized adult, parent, legal guardian or other chaperone. The policy also prohibits programs involving the presence of minors to include obscene live conduct.

Karr’s bill prohibits the use of state-owned facilities or properties to develop, implement, facilitate, host, or promote any obscene live conduct, and prohibits spending public money in support of obscene live conduct.

The bill also requires the attorney general to represent the Board of Regents, an institution under its control or an employee of either if a complaint or lawsuit is brought against them for following the law.

Other proponents of the bill included Florence Thompson of South Dakota Parents Involved in Education and South Dakota Citizens for Liberty, and Norman Woods of Family Heritage Alliance Action.

More: Taking aim at drag shows, South Dakota Board of Regents pass ‘minors on campus’ policy

Opponents of the bill included Michael Garofalo with Student Federation, which represents the student governments at each of South Dakota’s six public colleges; Samantha Chapman with the ACLU of South Dakota; Melissa McCauley with South Dakota for Equity; Yvonne Taylor with the South Dakota Advocacy Network for Women; Ben Sherman; and Brett Ries.

They largely argued that this bill chills free speech and expression, poses a threat to vibrant and diverse campus activities, that the Board of Regents already has policy on this issue and that this could open up the state to a costly legal challenge.

Garofalo said legislative stances from the Student Federation require unanimous support from each institution, and student leaders were “keen” to stand in opposition to the bill. He said students want to close this chapter of opposition to drag shows and move on. He also said the bill could affect certain Hobo Day events at SDSU.

Campus organizations are uncomfortable after the “aftermath” of the discussions on this subject and similar legislation, some of the rhetoric and discourse was less than kind, and there are real people affected by bills like this, Garofalo added.

Eleven members of the committee voted to pass the bill while the sole two dissenting votes came from Democratic Reps. Erin Healy and Oren Lesmeister. The bill will now advance to a vote on the House floor.