“The viewers of the drag show would have been ticketed audience members attending a performance sponsored by LGBT+ student organizations and designed to raise funds for LGBT+ suicide-prevention charity,” Southwick wrote. “Against this backdrop, the message sent by parading on a theater stage in attire of the opposite sex would have been unmistakable.”
A federal appeals court has ruled against Texas A&M University, finding that the school’s blanket ban on drag shows likely violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
According to The Texas Tribune, the Monday ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reverses a lower court decision upholding Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler’s 2023 cancellation of an on-campus drag show. At the time, Wendler claimed that drag shows are not only demeaning to women but as offensive as blackface, too.
In its split 2-1 decision, though, the appeals court sided with Spectrum WT, the student group behind the lawsuit. The judges have yet to comment on the merits of the case, but said that they will allow the plaintiffs to continue producing drag shows until the case has been returned to a lower court and resolved.
Writing for the majority, Judge Leslie H. Southwick said that the context of the planned 2023 drag show should have made the students’ less-than-offensive intent clear.
“The viewers of the drag show would have been ticketed audience members attending a performance sponsored by LGBT+ student organizations and designed to raise funds for LGBT+ suicide-prevention charity,” Southwick wrote. “Against this backdrop, the message sent by parading on a theater stage in attire of the opposite sex would have been unmistakable.”
The court also determined that Legacy Hall, the venue where the show would have been hosted, meets the criteria to be considered a public forum open to different groups and points of view, from churches to political candidates to advocacy organizations.
By singling out drag shows, Southwick said, the university appears to have signaled its interest in suppressing certain forms of expression—not protecting a vulnerable student body from some sort of imminent danger.
Judge James C. Ho, a Trump appointee, dissented, saying that Spectrum WT has yet to show that it is entitled to an “extraordinary remedy” such as an injunction against Texas A&M’s drag show ban.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and the Queer Empowerment Council, both of which are representing Spectrum in the lawsuit, have cast the split ruling as a significant step forward for their clients.
“We’re overjoyed that our clients will now be able to express themselves freely, and we’ll be watching to make sure that President Wendler obeys the laws of the land while the case proceeds,” FIRE Attorney Adam Steinbaugh said in a statement.
Sources
Fifth Circuit halts West Texas A&M drag show ban as free speech lawsuit continues
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