A federal judge in Texas ruled Thursday that West Texas A&M University acted within constitutional bounds when it canceled a drag show on campus.
The university’s president, Walter Wendler, canceled a drag show in March, which was met with a lawsuit from the campus’ LGBTQ group over First Amendment concerns. But U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled the university has a right to restrict inappropriate content.
“The First Amendment does not prevent school officials from restricting ‘vulgar and lewd’ conduct that would ‘undermine the school’s basic education mission’ — particularly in settings where children are physically present,” Kacsmaryk wrote.
The university’s LGBTQ group scheduled “A Fool’s Drag Race” event on campus this year. The event was a fundraiser for The Trevor Project, which aims to prevent suicides among LGBTQ children and advocates in favor of transgender hormones for minors.
Wendler initially canceled the drag show over concerns it mocks women, which he compared to blackface in an email to students, faculty, and staff, as reported by The Dallas Express.
“As a performance exaggerating aspects of womanhood (sexuality, femininity, gender), drag shows stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood,” Wendler said, per Texas Scorecard. “Drag shows are derisive, divisive, and demoralizing misogyny, no matter the stated intent. Such conduct runs counter to the purpose of WT.”
The university’s LGBTQ group Spectrum then filed a lawsuit against Wendler, Vice President for Student Affairs Christopher Thomas, Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp, and other school leadership.
“The shunning of this performance constitutes an indirect attack on the LGBT+, feminist, and activist communities of the WTAMU student body by targeting an event that is meant to support an LGBT+ charity,” the students claimed in a petition to protect the drag show.
Spectrum is represented in the suit by a free-speech legal organization called the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which argues that drag shows are protected as freedom of expression under the First Amendment.
“FIRE strongly disagrees with the court’s approach to First Amendment analysis and its conclusions,” JT Morris, a senior attorney for FIRE, said, according to Texas Scorecard. “We will appeal, and our fight for the expressive rights of these brave college students will continue.”
Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by former President Trump, denied FIRE’s request for injunctive relief.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law this year that bans “sexually oriented performances” in the presence of minors, which could be applied to some drag shows. But a permanent injunction was issued by another federal judge in Texas against the law on Tuesday, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Other red states’ similar bans have also faced legal challenges or been struck down in court, The Texas Tribune reported.
