Good.
A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked Texas A&M University System from enforcing a ban on drag shows being held at its special event venues.
This means Draggieland will go on as planned on Thursday at the flagship university’s Rudder Theatre in College Station.
Draggieland is an annual pageant where contestants wear clothing or makeup that often, but does not always, run counter to their expected gender identity. The contestants dance and answer questions afterward about what drag and LGBTQ culture means to them. It has repeatedly sold out the 750-seat venue since it started in 2020.
In her ruling, Judge Lee H. Rosenthal said the student group that organizes Draggieland, the Queer Empowerment Council, was likely to succeed in showing the ban violates the First Amendment.
“Anyone who finds the performance or performers offensive has a simple remedy: don’t go,” Rosenthal wrote.
The students said while their fight isn’t over, they were overjoyed by the decision and vowed to share that joy by putting on the best show possible Thursday.
A&M regents passed a resolution last month banning drag performances across all 11 campuses, complying in advance with Donald Trump’s fever dreams. There had been a bill to ban some drag shows that passed in the 2023 Legislature, but it was ruled unconstitutional by a different federal district court judge; it’s now in the unholy hands of the Fifth Circuit. Also in 2023, West Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler cancelled a student drag show, making similar arguments about inappropriate content or whatever. That has survived judicial scrutiny so far because that show admitted children, while Draggieland is advertised as for adults only. I personally don’t think that should matter – if a teenager wants to attend and it’s OK with their parents, I don’t see the problem – but that’s where we are now. Oh, and that ban implemented by UT regents, I hope it meets a similar fate in court soon, once there’s a plaintiff with a live complaint.
Texas A&M is the defendant here, and I suppose they could file an emergency appeal to block the Thursday show, but my guess is they won’t. They may yet appeal this ruling so future shows can be banned or at least more tightly regulated, but that’s a problem for another day. For now, go enjoy the show if you’re there to see it. The Chron, The Barbed Wire, and the Texas Signal have more.
Drag humor has a long and funny tradition. Will A&M ban any showings of Monty Python? Those guys were in drag very frequently. Are “Some Like it Hot” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Bosom Buddies” also on the forbidden list?
Flypusher: Yes, I remember the California Cuties softball team. They would come and play every summer.