By Noah Dawson
With the controversy surrounding a drag show coming to Amarillo hitting a boiling point, I wanted to add in my two cents.
Before I get too far into my main point, I must first take some time to lament that we are even having this controversy. As I have long held, culture war issues such as this are almost always distractions. These issues only exist so those without the spine to shrink government can make cheap virtue signaling wins against the left. It is also almost always counterproductive. In this case, all that is likely to come out of this controversy is free advertising for the show. Until it made headlines, I doubt most had heard of the show. Now it's statewide news.
But, it has become an issue. What can we learn from it? In my opinion, it's a perfect example of why government should not be in the entertainment industry. This is particularly exemplified by this issue as it clearly creates a conflict regarding free speech rights.
On the one hand, Mayor Nelson is probably technically right that, when it comes to current jurisprudence, attempts by the city to decide which events can and cannot occur at city-owned venues are stiffly limited under the law. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the jurisprudence as it stands, that's the current state of the law.
On the other hand, it is taxpayer dollars funding the venue, so utilization almost always results in a taxpayer being forced to subsidize speech they disagree with. It's the same reason I vehemently oppose taxpayer funded lobbying.
As should be clear, either way this goes, as long as government sticks its head into the entertainment industry, there is going to be a conflict of rights which may never be untangled until it gets out of the way. And, while it is lamentable we are being pulled into this distraction, the issue will only compound itself until we get government out of the entertainment industry.
