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Florida’s Republican attorney general has subpoenaed a wine bar, demanding the names of guests, employees, and performers at a recent drag show.
As the Associated Press first reported, Attorney General James Uthmeier announced last week that Florida’s Office of Statewide Prosecution has opened an investigation into the Pride event, which took place last month at the Kilted Mermaid, a Vero Beach establishment owned by the city’s vice mayor, Linda Moore.
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In a July 22 press release, Uthmeier’s office claimed that the all-ages event “featured adult, sexualized performers in front of children, in violation of Florida law.” A subpoena reportedly demands Moore turn over security footage, employee work schedules, contracts identifying performers, guest lists, and reservation logs by August 8.
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As NBC News notes, neither the press release nor the subpoena indicates what state laws Moore is under investigation for allegedly violating. But the investigation comes after local Moms for Liberty chair Jennifer Pippin filed a complaint with the state AG, accusing the Kilted Mermaid of violating Florida’s so-called “Protection of Children Act,” a law that has been blocked from going into effect since 2023.
Signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in 2023, the “Protection of Children Act” allowed the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation to revoke the business licenses of any venues that allow minors to see “adult live performances,” as well as issue $5,000 and $10,000 fines against the business. Anyone who violated the law could be charged with a criminal misdemeanor.
While the law did not specifically mention drag, it was part of a wave of state and local laws introduced in recent years by Republican politicians targeting drag performances and family-friendly events like drag queen story hours, which anti-LGBTQ+ conservatives have mischaracterized as sexually explicit adult entertainment.
In June 2023, federal Judge Gregory Presnell issued a temporary injunction after restaurant chain Hamburger Mary’s sued Florida over the law, saying it harmed its business and violated its constitutional free speech rights. In his ruling, Presnell noted that the law’s language was “vague and overbroad,” and that it was “specifically designed to suppress the speech of drag queen performers” likely in violation of the First Amendment. The following November, the Supreme Court refused to lift Presnell’s injunction.
Vice Mayor Linda Moore and city council members listen during public comment, July 22, 2025, regarding an investigation by the Florida Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution for a “Pride Tea Dance” that was held at Moore’s restaurant, The Kilted Mermaid, in June. Attorney General James Uthmeier claims the Pride event exposed children to a “sexualized performance.” | KAILA JONES /TCPALM / USA TODAY NETWORK
Pippin, who did not attend the event at the Kilted Mermaid, told NBC that she was unaware that the law had been blocked when she filed her complaint. However, she said that the state AG’s office told her the venue may have violated other state laws restricting live adult performances.
Moore said the Kilted Mermaid has hosted the annual all-ages Pride event every year for the past five years. “It’s a family-friendly event, and then once the drag show actually starts, we tell the parents who have small children that they can’t stay for the show,” she told NBC News.
She explained that the show’s first performances are always “really tame” and feature no profanity in case some parents remain in the venue with their children. While performances get “a little racy” once all children have left the venue, she said, “There’s never nudity at any drag show.”
She added that photos from this year’s event of a performer wearing lingerie shared by Pippin on social media were taken later in the evening during the “adults-only” portion of the show.
Attorney Glen Torcivia told local NBC affiliate WPTV that because the courts have blocked the state from enforcing the “Protection of Children Act,” it’s unlikely that Moore will face criminal charges. “From a legal standpoint, I do not think this goes very far at all, but it does generate a lot of publicity,” Torcivia told the station.
As Rindala Alajaji notes in a piece for the digital privacy and free speech nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Supreme Court has ruled in Gibson v. Florida Legislative Investigation Comm. (1963) and NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson (1958) states that peaceful organizations cannot be compelled to turn over lists of members. But, Alajaji writes, while the courts are likely to strike down the subpoena, “the damage will already be done.”
“A restaurant owner (who also happens to be the town’s vice mayor) is being dragged into a state investigation,” Alajaji writes. “Performers’ identities are potentially being exposed—whether to state surveillance, inclusion in law enforcement databases, or future targeting by anti-LGBTQ+ groups. Guests who thought they were attending a fun community event are now caught up in a legal probe. These are the kinds of chilling, damaging consequences that will discourage Floridians from hosting or attending drag shows, and could stamp out the art form entirely.”
Moore, however, remains defiant in the face of the investigation. The Kilted Mermaid, she told NBC News, is “committed to supporting everyone in the community like we always have, and gay pride will continue, and drag queen bingo will continue.”
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