Critics are saying a new bill introduced into the Texas Legislature this year will only encourage a bounty-hunting trend that targets drag queens and transgender people. Texas state GOP Rep. Steve Toth filed House Bill 4378 on Thursday, March 9 that will allow anyone in Texas to sue people who perform in drag or host a drag performance where children are present.
The bill targets events like family-friendly brunch shows at restaurants or drag queen story time events at libraries or other family-oriented drag queen events. The bill says that people who sue a person or venue can be awarded $5,000 in damages.
Erin Reed, a transgender rights activist and independent reporter, tweeted about HB 4378 on Saturday, March 11, saying that the piece of legislation could easily be used to target transgender people who perform.
The bill defines drag as "a performance in which a performer exhibits a gender that is different than the performer’s gender recorded at birth." It goes on to say this performance can involve using makeup and clothing to dance, lip sync, or perform "in a lascivious manner."
The bill joins 17 other proposed pieces of Texas legislation that targets transgender people, drag queens, and the LGBTQ+ community. The Advocate reported in November 2022 that Texas legislators have proposed anti-LGBTQ+ bills for the upcoming legislative session. This now includes HB 4378 and the recent heterosexual tax cut bill from state Rep. Bryan Slaton.
That proposed bill would provide massive tax cuts, up to 100%, for straight families that stay married and have children. Slaton also pushed a bill that would have outlawed minors at drag shows.
Astronaut Donald K. “Deke” Slayton being interviewed in front of the Columbia/ 747 SCA during the overnight stop at Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas.
Finally got around to watching Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
and
100% honesty here?
I smiled-to-grinned-helplessly at every second of it! It is SO charming and SO expertly animated! The comparisons to the Spiderverse movies I've seen so far are 100% warranted and I genuinely hope loads of CGI animated movies follow these patterns/designs in the future because they're just SO refreshing to watch in a... maybe "engaging" is the word to use? You feel like you're IN the animation, reacting eagerly TO it, rather than sitting tiredly as you watch a rough draft with a few key splash pages go by.
I dunno. YouTube keeps recommending me people bleh-dunking on Disney's Wish and from what clips of that movie I've seen it looks SO dull in comparison to Puss. Like, I have 0 clue what Wish is about! I've seen maybe 4 5-10 second clips of it at most. There's a goat? The protag's bestie (besties??) are based on the 7 Dwarves? There's like 50 references to older Disney movies because it's supposed to be a celebration of Disney's 100th?
But strictly speaking from a visual perspective/demonstration/execution/exultation of animation prowess? Puss is INCREDIBLE. On a strictly visual/style comparison there is NO comparison. I'm speaking honestly here; I couldn't HELP but grin watching every second of Puss. It's a delight just to watch. I'd say that even if the story bored me and that is NOT the case. The story is SO GOOD. The story makes it an EASY 10 times better than what the brilliant visuals promised. It is SO worth the dollars I dropped on a rental watch of it, and it's definitely a movie I (a person who is NOT interested in movies until years later at BEST) would be keen to watch again.