Important Takeaways:

• Drag show ordinance headed to Branson aldermen
• Branson’s Planning and Zoning Commission has sent a proposed ordinance to the Board of Aldermen to restrict drag shows in the community, but the proposal also would cause problems for some of Branson’s established show comedians.
• The commissioners considered a draft ordinance which acknowledges the city has no choice but to allow drag shows to take place, but will restrict them to the downtown area. The city’s current restrictions on adult entertainment, which is restricted to downtown with a special use permit, require “nudity or sexual activities.” Drag shows do not normally contain such content, so it would not fall under the city’s current adult entertainment restrictions.
• The ordinance would allow drag shows within the Downtown District, on the condition a special use permit is obtained for the show. The reasoning for the move to restrict the shows to the Downtown District is that the area was “created to ensure that the peace and safety of residential and neighborhood-adjacent districts were not negatively impacted by live entertainment uses.”
• The ordinance would allow any current drag performance to be grandfathered in for locations not in the Downtown District, but future shows at locations who have hosted drag shows like Mr. Glencho’s at Branson Meadows or the Paddlewheel at Branson Landing would no longer be allowed to take place.
• Ward III Alderman Ruth Denham, a board of alderman representative to the Planning and Zoning board, made a motion to remove the 25% of a performance language from the measure, which would prohibit any drag related performance outside of the downtown district in any manner. The motion to amend the proposed ordinance passed 5-4, but due to the wording of the ordinance, the change impacted several Branson performers and comedians.
• The amended ordinance impacting Section 94-5 of the Branson City Code defining a drag show states, “The impersonation by the adult or group of adults occurs and the performance is intended to subvert gender stereotypes” and then has two subclauses, only one of which would need to apply. The second subclause states, “The adult or group is paid for the performance, or patrons are charged, to attend the performance.”
• Should the ordinance pass as amended, comedians such as Branson multiple time Comedian of the Year award winner Terry Wayne Sanders, who does impersonations of Joan Rivers and other female characters, would be prohibited from moving to a show other than where he is currently performing, and if the show he is in closes, he would not be able to open another show or be part of a replacement show. Jamie Haage, another Branson comedian who impersonates female personalities in the Grand Jubilee show, would not be able to participate in any new shows at Grand Country Music Hall even though there is no move to a new facility.

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