Senate Bill 12 isn’t being enforced right now, but it’s already having an effect. A Dallas woman who wanted to take her two children to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show was turned away at the box office this past Saturday.
“I bought the tickets online, and there was nothing about anyone not being allowed in,” says Cindy Saye, 52. “When we got there, we had to check in with our IDs at the box office. My daughter is 16, and the manager said she couldn’t come in. He was really nice and instantly refunded my money. I asked why she couldn’t come in and he said, ‘Greg Abbott.’”
The theater in question is the Inwood, a Landmark theater much like the traditional home of Houston’s Rocky Horror cast, the River Oaks. Since its release in 1975, midnight screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show have often been accompanied by live cast pantomiming and parodying the film in front of the screen while the audience yells “call lines” at the action. The Dallas cast, Los Bastardos, has been performing in the area for more than two decades.
Rocky Horror is Rated R, and many old cast members will remember writer/composer Richard O’Brien ending trailers for the film with the line “Under 17 not admitted without parent.” As grownups who once did “The Time Warp” in the aisle of their local cinema want to share the experience with their own kids, it looks like they may no longer have the option.
Senate Bill 12 was signed by Governor Greg Abbott in June. In its original form, it banned all Texas minors from events where “a male performer exhibiting as a female, or a female performer exhibiting as a male, who uses clothing, makeup, or other similar physical markers and who sings, lip syncs, dances, or otherwise performs before an audience.”
As Rocky Horror performances feature lip synching in drag, this would clearly fall under the prohibitions.
The final version of the law does not include the drag language, and instead focuses only on defining what counts as a “prurient interest in sex.” Despite this, Abbott tweeted a celebratory message about “banning drag performances in public” in June, showing that whatever the language, the governor views the law as a weapon against drag.
Rocky Horror does contain sex scenes (two of which are displayed as silhouettes on screens and the other of which is a musical number containing no nudity), so performances of the show would still be a crime under the current language.
After a suit was filed , U.S. District Jude David Hittner ruled the bill infringed on the First Amendment “and chills free speech.” He declared it unconstitutionally overbroad and vague. The Texas Attorney General’s Office has said it will appeal Hittner’s ruling.
This is why venues seem to be taking a precautionary role in keeping minors out. Landmark Theaters did not respond to a request for comment, but Victor Entropy of Los Bastardos did.
“Rocky has been a haven for people of all walks of life to be themselves and have fun,” he says. “Audience members get to dress up, sing, dance, and throw things in a movie theater to the tune of a movie they love. It has been a formative experience for many people over the years, but with the show being R Rated and including live entertainment that may subject patrons to explicit content, we feel that moving forward it’s the safest option for the cast, venue, and audience members that our shows remain 18 or older regardless of the outcome of SB 12. We have been very fortunate in having venues that support us in our endeavors.”
Nonetheless, for fans of the show willing to escort their children, it’s a blow.
“I also perform in local theater, and I’m thinking, of all the shows I’ve done when there’s drag for one reason or another,” says Saye. “Bye Bye Birdie, or White Christmas. Are they going to not let us do White Christmas? I think it’s disappointing that a political party that’s says they want to stay out of personal lives meddles so much in our personal lives. They want to tell me how to raise my child.”
Meanwhile, her daughter sees SB 12 as a clear threat, as the transphobic language could still be included in future versions.
“It kind of hit me that there are laws against queer people where I live, and we’re actively discriminated against,” she says. “It just made me feel almost afraid of where things are going to go.”
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
