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A drag queen performs in Covington. House Bill 360.

Kentucky Republican Files House Bill 360 to Criminalize Drag Performances

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A Republican Kentucky lawmaker wants to make performing in drag a crime. 

House Bill 360, filed Tuesday by Rep. Scott Sharp (R-Ashland), would create a series of criminal penalties for “adult performances” done in public or in places where minors could be present.

The bill specifies one such performance would be a “performance involving male or female impersonators who provide entertainment” that “predominantly appeals to prurient interest in sexual conduct; depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way; and taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.” 

Those found in violation would get a Class B misdemeanor for their first offense, a Class A misdemeanor for their second offense, and a Class D felony for their third and additional offenses. 

Declaring “the protection of children is of paramount importance to the citizens of this Commonwealth,” the bill comes with an emergency clause — meaning it would immediately go into effect if it becomes law. 

Sharp’s bill’s language mirrors previous failed attempts in the Kentucky legislature at restricting drag performances. GOP lawmakers tried to pass such legislation during the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions, but did not file anything during the 2025 session. 

This story may be updated.

Gov. Andy Beshear, in a blue suit claps while standing inside a marble government building during a Fairness Rally, as people around him hold protest signs advocating for LGBTQ+ protections.

Queer Kentucky 2026 Bill Tracker: Key Legislation to Watch in Frankfort — KYGA26

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Kentucky’s 2026 legislative session is gonna be a long one, and Queer Kentucky is here to help.

Meet Queer Kentucky’s #KYGA26 Bill Tracker. For the second year in a row, this will be your go-to spot for real-time updates on key bills impacting Kentucky’s LGBTQ+ community.

We’ll comb through all of the legislation as it gets filed, flag bills to watch, explain what they mean and why they’re important, and then monitor them as they move through Frankfort. We’ll also watch for any last-second bill changes y’all need to know about.

To better help cut through the chaos of Frankfort, this bill tracker has two parts. (Both parts are on this page, so go ahead and bookmark it and make plans to check it regularly.)

First, we’ll have a searchable database of a larger selection of bills folks are talking about, are big legislative priorities, or are just things y’all might find interesting.

Then, we’ll have written blurbs diving deeper — but still keeping things concise — into the absolute must-watch bills impacting LGBTQ+ rights and people.

The 2026 legislative session kicks off Jan. 6 and lasts until April 15. Lawmakers have until the first week of March to submit new bills (but they can change existing bills however they want until the end of session).

Got a certain bill or topic you want us to monitor? Email lead politics reporter Olivia Krauth at [email protected] or fill out this anonymous survey.

This story was last updated Jan. 22 at 8:30 p.m.

Search through key legislation

Learn more about key bills as they arise:

House Bill 170: Protecting “religious liberty”

  • Sponsor: Rep. TJ Roberts (R-Burlington)
  • Quickly, what’s going on here?: HB 170 says the government could not “substantially burden” someone’s freedom of religion, including but not limited to forcing someone to serve LGBTQ+ people or having a local fairness ordinance. LGBTQ+ advocates often refer to measures like these as “jackpot justice” bills.
  • Here’s a link to the full bill.
  • Where is the bill:Assigned to the House Judiciary Committee.

Senate Bill 72: Health care professionals’ conscience

  • Sponsor: Sen. Donald Douglas (R-Nicholasville)
  • Quickly, what’s going on here?: Health care professionals could not be discriminated against for refusing certain treatments or procedures that violate their conscience.
  • Here’s a link to the full bill.
  • Where is the bill: Waiting to be assigned to a committee.

House Bill 334: Male and female only 

  • Sponsor: Rep. Candy Massaroni (R-Bardstown)
  • Quickly, what’s going on here?: HB 334 would establish a “Kentucky Women’s Bill of Rights,” which would allow public entities to distinguish between male and female based on biological sex and require several such entities that keep vital statistics to only use male or female.
  • Here’s a link to the full bill.
  • Where is the bill:Assigned to the House State Government Committee.

House Bill 360: Make drag a crime

  • Sponsor: Rep. Scott Sharp (R-Ashland)
  • Quickly, what’s going on here?: HB 360 would make performing in drag in public or other places where minors could be present a crime. The first two offenses would be a misdemeanor, before the third and additional offenses become Class D felonies.
  • Here’s a link to the full bill.
  • Where is the bill: Assigned to the House Judiciary Committee.

House Bill 475: Male and female only

  • Sponsor: Rep. Ryan Dotson (R-Winchester)
  • Quickly, what’s going on here?: HB 475 would put it in Kentucky law that a person only has one gender: male or female.
  • Here’s a link to the full bill.
  • Where is the bill: Waiting to be assigned to a committee.
Gov. Andy Beshear and Fairness Campaign Executive Director Chris Hartman speak at an LGBTQ rights rally during Kentucky’s General Assembly in Frankfort. 2026 Legislative session starts tomorrow.

Closed Chambers, Big Decisions: What Kentucky’s 2026 Legislative Session Means for the LGBTQ+ Community

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At last, Kentucky’s 2026 legislative session is upon us. 

This year’s session starts on tomorrow, and lawmakers will meet almost daily until April 15. Hundreds of bills and resolutions are expected to be filed, including measures to create the state’s next two-year budget.

Here’s what you need to know as #KYGA26 gets underway.

 

When do Kentucky lawmakers meet during the 2026 legislative session?

Lawmakers are scheduled to meet almost every business day from Jan. 6 to April 1, then take a quick break so Gov. Andy Beshear can sign or veto legislation, and then finish the session on April 14 and 15.

You can see the full calendar on the LRC’s website.

Typically, the House and Senate gavel in to discuss and vote on bills at 4 p.m. on Mondays, 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, and 9 a.m. on Fridays. 

Lawmakers often spend the mornings meeting in committees, where they learn about new bills, receive feedback, and then give bills their first vote. Most committees are scheduled to meet somewhere between 8 a.m. and noon, Tuesdays through Thursdays. You can view the full standing committee schedule here. 

All of these times can change, and surprise meetings can and will pop up, so it helps to pay attention to the legislative calendar on the LRC’s website. This is where you can see which committees are meeting each day, what they’re scheduled to discuss, plus when and where they’ll meet. You can also follow the LRC on social media for more real-time updates. 

Where is Kentucky’s 2026 legislative session?

Kentucky’s state Capitol is closed thanks to multi-year renovations, so the House and Senate will meet in a temporary structure built in the Capitol’s parking lot in Frankfort.

Committee meetings will still take place in the Capitol Annex, which is right behind the Capitol and adjacent to the new temporary chambers.

What do the Capitol renovations mean for public access? 

The public will no longer be able to watch in-person as the House and Senate debate and vote on bills. When building the temporary House and Senate chambers, they did not include galleries — the public viewing area — in their plans. 

Instead, certain committee rooms in the Capitol Annex will be designated live-watch zones where the public can watch a livestream of what’s happening in the House and Senate’s temporary chambers. 

The Capitol’s closure also means protests, rallies and other events typically held in the Capitol rotunda will need to find a new venue. 

How can I follow along? 

You can show up in-person to watch committee meetings, testify or protest at those meetings, rally in the halls of the Annex or outside the building as lawmakers walk to their temporary chambers, and/or watch a livestream of something happening next door in Frankfort.

Panelists at Queer Kentucky’s legislative preview panels repeatedly said showing up in-person if you can, even if it’s just in the Annex for a committee meeting, is perhaps the best way to advocate for yourself and causes you’re interested in. 

But there are other ways to stay connected to what’s happening in Frankfort:

  • Watch the livestreams from KET or the LRC’s YouTube page anywhere you have internet access, or watch the replays afterwards.
  • Follow your favorite politics reporters on social media — media will still be able to be on the floor of the House and Senate chambers.
  • Sign up for advocacy groups’ and news outlets’ alerts to know what is the breaking news, especially around the topics you care about. 
  • See if your lawmakers are active on social media or publish a newsletter with updates about how they voted during the session. 

What will lawmakers focus on during Kentucky’s legislative session?

2026 is an even-numbered year, which means Kentucky’s legislature must craft its next two-year state budget. That will almost certainly be the highest priority for lawmakers, but expect budget talks to be a bit of a slow burn over the first two months or so of session before the final details get hammered out as session winds down.

Outside of the budget, here’s a quick look at some of the key issues that could come up:

  • Data centers and what restrictions (if any) they should have
  • Preparation for looming federal changes to things like SNAP benefits and Medicaid
  • How Kentucky can address its lack of affordable housing
  • Making child care more accessible or, if Beshear gets his way, offering universal preschool 
  • Prohibiting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in K-12 education
  • Legislation aimed at the state’s largest two school districts (Jefferson and Fayette counties) following lawmakers’ dissatisfaction with the districts’ financial woes and low test scores

When it comes to LGBTQ-focused legislation that could gain traction this year, here’s a short list:

  • “Jackpot justice” measures that could threaten local fairness ordinances
  • Measures allowing health professionals to opt out of treating someone on the basis of religious or moral grounds
  • Additional attempts to restrict drag performances and artists
  • A “bathroom bill” restricting which bathrooms Capitol visitors can use after a GOP lawmaker confronted a transgender woman for using the women’s restroom in the Capitol at the end of the 2025 legislation session. 

What will Queer Kentucky cover this session?

You tell us! Fill out this survey and let us know what topics and bills interest you most. Or you can contact lead political writer Olivia Krauth at [email protected]. 

Want to help fund our journalism? Become a Queer Kentucky Bedfellow.

Let’s look at the final full week of Kentucky’s 2025 legislative session

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This article was originally published by The Gallery Press by Olivia Krauth

This is the final full week of Kentucky’s 2025 legislative session and, honestly, thank God for that.

The GOP-dominated legislature has until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Friday night to pass anything controversial before a 10-day veto period starts. That’s when Gov. Andy Beshear — known supporter of DEI efforts and the LGBTQ+ community — can reject bills sent to him for consideration to be law, but lawmakers would still have two days at the end of the month to override him.

If anything anti-DEI or anti-LGBTQ+ *doesn’t* make it to Beshear by then, I would tell you it is safe to assume it is dead and won’t become law. But also this is Frankfort and apparently we can randomly try and block needed health care from transgender Kentuckians at 8:30 in the morning, so.

A note of caution: There is so, so, so much going on in Kentucky politics right now. For this evening, I’m focusing on the five bills left on the Queer Kentucky bill tracker I’ve been running all session that are still considered alive because what an absolute day for going after the LGBTQ+ community.

As always, you can fill out this survey real fast to let me know what questions you have or what bills you’d like an update on. (And yes, you can also submit people for the potential Best Dressed of #KYGA25 list.)

OK, let’s begin.

FRANKFORT, March 7 – Rep. Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester, (left) confers with Rep. David Hale, R-Wellington, during Friday’s House session. (Photo: LRC Public Information)

OK, seriously?

We can start with the way some Republicans decided to take a bill that already sought to prohibit bans on conversion therapy — a discredited attempt at counseling kids out of being anything other than straight — and then somehow add a section barring Medicaid funds from covering gender-affirming health care for transgender Kentuckians.

They did this literally at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in front of a Senate committee, which proceeded to pass the new bill (House Bill 495, sponsored by GOP Rep. David Hale).

Hale, to his credit, explained the committee substitute of the bill, which radically altered the bill with all of the new we’re-taking-away-your-health-care language, in the committee.

It was interesting to hear Hale present and defend this sudden change because just last week, he seemed to be defending a parent’s right to choose their child’s health care. Now, he’s defending the state’s right to choose your health care, regardless of age. Wonder what changed.

However, he was — and has been — praised for working to make the conversion therapy part of the bill stronger, per Dem Sen. Karen Berg. But the new section yanking away health care was a no-go.

The HB 495 committee vote also included committee chair GOP Sen. Stephen Meredith yelling at Fairness Campaign director Chris Hartman mere *syllables* into Hartman’s testimony against the bill.

I’ve seen plenty of high tensions in Frankfort, but Meredith’s audacity might be unprecedented.

HB 495 now has two readings in the Senate, meaning it could get a full Senate vote as early as Thursday morning, actually, since both the House and Senate decided to gavel in at 9 a.m. instead of the normal 2 p.m.

If it passes the Senate, the House needs to agree with the changes the Senate made to their bill before it gets sent to Beshear’s desk where it will almost absolutely be vetoed.

But here’s the thing: Some Republicans in the House already tried to make the whole blocking Medicaid funds situation a thing several weeks ago and the bill went nowhere. Not even when HB 495 was up for a House vote last week did they try to add this language to it.

So, why now? And will the Senate be interested in it?

And if the Senate approves it, the House has to agree with the changes — will they? Will they do so by Friday night? If they don’t, will a conference committee — a group of lawmakers tasked with finding a compromise — be successful in time?

And if the conference committee fails, what will the free conference committee — the group that basically gets to take the bill and do whatever they want to it — come up with? And will they reach a solution in time?

Is it really worth it to them to spend that much time during the next two legislative days? We’ll see.

It is entirely possible that adding this language about Medicaid will cause the entire thing to collapse, therefore allowing Beshear’s ban on conversion therapy to stay in place. But again, we’ll see.
FRANKFORT, March 12 – Senate Democratic Floor Leader Gerald A. Neal, D-Louisville, speaks on House Bill 4, an act related to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, on the Senate floor Wednesday. (Photo: LRC Public Information)

Does anyone know when slavery ended?

Kentucky’s GOP-dominated Senate easily approved — with an assist from Dem Sen. Robin Webb, who also voted in favor of the measure — this year’s marquee anti-diversity, equity and inclusion bill, House Bill 4.

HB 4 is aimed at college campuses, and despite this being a high-profile topic for the last two sessions and the bill actually not changing a ton since being filed last month, I’m still not sure if anyone is 100% sure what exactly it does and doesn’t do.

Generally, it is aimed at not forcing any policy designed to be based on religion, race, sex, color or national origin. It wants to do away with DEI offices. It wants to foster intellectual diversity, though, that is safe.

But, just like with so many other bills sparked by the GOP’s culture wars, even with attempts to make its language specific and after months of discussion, it still isn’t totally clear.

And when things like this aren’t clear, it often has a chilling effect on educators and admins.

Wednesday’s Senate vote was, um, interesting. Some Dems, like Louisville Dem Sen. Karen Berg, shared lengthy, personal stories about how DEI impacted them directly. Republican Sen. Donald Douglas, who is Black, rattled off a list of historical facts, including sharing that slavery ended in 1805. Dem Sen. Reggie Thomas, who is also Black, later corrected him regarding slavery facts.

And apparently there was an off-camera fight between legislative leaders, captured by the Kentucky Lantern’s McKenna Horsley.

McKenna Horsley @mckennahorsley.bsky.social

Some party leaders are having a heated discussion.

View on Bluesky

I could write an entire other newsletter about the energy, the body language, Sen. Karen Berg’s shawl version of a Snuggie (?), the last second appearance of Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong — everything — in this clip, but I am tired and so therefore I will move on (for now).

This one is off to Beshear, who has 10 days to decide what he wants to do with it. (Spoiler: He will most likely veto it.)

More on LGBTQ+ issues

Senate Bill 2

SB 2, which would block gender-affirming health care for the 67 or so transgender inmates in Kentucky, passed a House committee Wednesday.

This is a top priority bill for the Senate GOP — all 31 Republican senators signed on as a cosponsor — but it looks like it might not have the time to pass the House. It needs three readings across three days, like all bills, and it needed its first reading on Wednesday in order to pass by Friday. And it got that first reading. So we’ll see how this goes.

But while Beshear is pretty pro-LGBTQ+, I don’t know if he’s gone on record regarding this particular issue. It might be possible that he won’t veto it, and therefore Republicans have a bit of extra time.

Senate Bill 132

This one would basically allow health care professionals to refuse to do certain medical procedures if those procedures violate their values. So, think, if their religious values include not believing LGBTQ+ people are real, they could refuse to provide needed gender-affirming health care. Same idea goes for abortions.

This passed out of a House committee and got that first reading Wednesday, so this also could pass Friday.

Senate Bill 60

SB 60 is very much like SB 132, but it extends the religious liberty thing to basically everything — not just health care.

It is almost safe to say this one is dead. It could’ve been heard in committee Wednesday, and yet they didn’t put it on the agenda. It also doesn’t have any of its three readings in the House, and there are only two legislative days left before the veto period, so … the math.

Oh, and also

For reasons I have not seen publicly and/or widely articulated, apparently Grimace was terrorizing the Kentucky Capitol Annex Wednesday.

As if the session itself wasn’t a terror enough.

Apparently, there is also an uprising regarding an alleged recent decision to stop the Capitol Annex snack shop (a small place with a gas station-like assortment of snacks and drinks so you don’t pass out in Frankfort and/or for those of us who have a fear of the Capitol Annex cafeteria) from offering *checks notes* hot food?

Obviously, I will keep y’all updated with such incredibly passing matters, especially as the veto period approaches.

Some programming notes

Just a bunch of repeats from last week:

  • If you’re a paid sub, PLEASE double-check what card you have on file so any and all payments go through. Several of y’all signed up for annual subscriptions last March, so those should be renewing soon and I’d hate for you to lose access at the worst possible moment of session.
  • It is fully party time in Frankfort, but party time in Frankfort does not come cheap. If you’d like to chip in a few bucks for gas or a Celsius via Venmo, I’d be forever grateful (but no pressure, seriously). My Venmo is right here.
  • Also, please take a second and share this newsletter with a friend and/or on your social media feeds! As I said, it is fully party time in Frankfort, and the more folks we have reading + sharing The Gallery Pass, the better the party. Plz + thx!

Where can you find me?

  • For live updates: Either Twitter or BlueSky.
  • For video recaps/explainers/answering your questions: TikTok.
  • For aesthetically pleasing things to add to your Insta story: My professional Instagram.
  • For full-length articles: Queer Kentucky.
  • For regular recaps + analysis: The Gallery Pass. (Please tell your friends to subscribe!)
  • To send me ideas and tips: Use this survey. It is anonymous and you can fill it out as often as you’d like.
  • To support my work: Venmo. (Again, no pressure.)

Aight, my party people, we will talk when we talk next. If you see me in Frankfort and I’m not sobbing in my car, feel free to come up and say hi! I have friendship bracelets!

Toodles!

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