Students producing Texas A&M University’s popular “Draggieland” performance were handed a victory Monday morning when a federal judge blocked its cancellation by university officials.
The show will go on this Thursday.
Related
Supreme Court refuses to hear drag ban challenge, leaving it largely in place
A lower court found that the drag ban impinged on people’s free speech rights. But the Supreme Court won’t uphold that.
In her ruling, Judge Lee H. Rosenthal of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas held that a student organization, the Texas A&M Queer Empowerment Council, was likely to succeed in showing the drag ban violated the First Amendment.
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“In recent years, the commitment to free speech on campuses has been both challenging and challenged,” Judge Rosenthal, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, wrote. “There have been efforts from all sides of the political spectrum to disrupt or prevent students, faculty, and others from expressing opinions and speech that are deemed, or actually are, offensive or wrong. But the law requires the recognition and application of speech rights and guardrails that preserve and protect all our treasured First Amendment rights.”
The court held that drag is theatrical expression protected by the First Amendment and that the university’s justifications for prohibiting the student-funded, student-organized “Draggieland” performance fell short.
Here's how Judge Rosenthal explains why Trump's executive order does not cover drag shows storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us…
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social) March 24, 2025 at 2:54 PM
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In February, Texas A&M University’s Board of Regents passed a resolution banning all drag performances on its 11 university campuses.
The resolution, approved in a unanimous vote, said the board recognizes the need for universities to foster a sense of community and belonging among students but adds that drag shows are “inconsistent with [the system’s] mission and core values, including the value of respect for others.”
Drag shows are “likely to create or contribute to a hostile environment for women,” contrary to university and federal anti-discrimination policies, the resolution claims.
“These events often involve unwelcome and objectively offensive conduct based on sex for many members of the respective communities of the universities, particularly when they involve the mockery or objectification of women,” the resolution states.
The board’s declaration echoed similar language found in Trump’s “gender ideology” executive order, officially titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government.”
Both Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) have warned that federal and state funds won’t be allocated to institutions “promoting” any activity not in compliance with a definition of two “immutable” sexes, male and female.
“Texas A&M, like any public university, has the utmost duty to respect the First Amendment rights of students,” said Supervising Senior Attorney JT Morris with FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which represented the students. “As public officials, they can’t banish speech from campus just because it offends them, any more than they could shut down a political rally or a Christmas pageant.”
“We’re overjoyed with today’s decision,” said the Queer Empowerment Council. “This is another display of the resilience of queer joy, as that is an unstoppable force despite those that wish to see it destroyed. While this fight isn’t over, we are going to appreciate the joy we get to bring by putting on the best show that we can do.”
In 2023, FIRE filed a similar case on behalf of students at the West Texas campus of the university. School president Walter Wendler sent a letter to students, faculty, and staff announcing that student LGBTQ+ group Spectrum WT’s upcoming event benefitting the Trevor Project had been canceled and characterized drag as “derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny.”
“A harmless drag show? Not possible,” Wendler wrote, comparing drag to blackface. “I will not appear to condone the diminishment of any group at the expense of impertinent gestures toward another group for any reason, even when the law of the land appears to require it.”
Wendler said such performances “stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood.”
That case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans declined to fast-track it ahead of a scheduled March performance.
The high court’s conservative majority ruled 6-3 not to take up the case.
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