A federal appeals court on Monday blocked West Texas A&M University from banning student drag performances on its campus, overruling a lower court order that claimed First Amendment protections do not extend to drag shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 2-1 decision\u00a0from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asserts the university acted unconstitutionally when it canceled student-organized charity drag performances<\/a> in 2023 and 2024. In a March 2023 email to students, faculty and staff titled, \u201cA Harmless Drag Show? No Such Thing,\u201d university President Walter Wendler said drag discriminates against women and compared it to blackface.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWest Texas A&M University will not host a drag show on campus,\u201d Wendler wrote in the email<\/a>, which also referenced his Christian religious beliefs. The school, part of the Texas A&M University System, is public and not religiously affiliated.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d Wendler wrote. He added that students should donate directly to the Trevor Project, the LGBTQ youth suicide prevention organization that was to be the drag show\u2019s beneficiary.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) sued Wendler and West Texas A&M in 2023 on behalf of Spectrum WT, the LGBTQ student group behind the drag show, \u201cA Fool\u2019s Drag Race,\u201d that Wendler canceled. He canceled another of the group\u2019s drag performances in 2024, citing his 2023 email and a new Texas law<\/a> restricting \u201csexually oriented performances.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A district court judge denied FIRE and Spectrum WT\u2019s motion for a preliminary injunction in 2023. In 2024, the Supreme Court declined to intervene<\/a> in the case following a request for emergency action<\/a> by the student group.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Thursday\u2019s 5th Circuit ruling, Judge Leslie H. Southwick, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, wrote that theatrical performances, including drag shows, \u201cplainly involve expressive conduct within the protection of the First Amendment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Wendler did not argue, either before the district court or on appeal, that restricting the intended drag show would survive strict scrutiny,\u201d Southwick wrote on Monday. \u201cBased on the record before us, the district court erred in concluding that the plaintiffs were not substantially likely to succeed on the merits of their First Amendment claim.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney for the plaintiffs at FIRE, said in a statement that the organization is \u201coverjoyed that our clients will now be able to express themselves freely, and we\u2019ll be watching to make sure that President Wendler obeys the law of the land while the case proceeds.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a victory not just for Spectrum WT, but for any public university students at risk of being silenced by campus censors,\u201d said JT Morris, FIRE\u2019s senior supervising attorney.\u00a0<\/p>\n A spokesperson for West Texas A&M University did not immediately return a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n The ruling comes several months after a federal judge handed a victory<\/a> to another student-led LGBTQ group that sued the Texas A&M University System<\/a> and its flagship earlier this year over a policy banning drag performances on each of its 11 campuses.\u00a0<\/p>\n The university system\u2019s board of regents voted almost unanimously in February to adopt\u00a0a resolution that states drag events are inconsistent with the system\u2019s \u201cmission and core values, including the value of respect for others.\u201d The resolution cites an executive order<\/a> from President Trump\u00a0that proclaims the U.S. recognizes only two unchangeable sexes, male and female, and\u00a0aims to prevent federal spending on \u201cgender ideology.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A federal appeals court on Monday blocked West Texas A&M University from banning student drag…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":489,"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions\/489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}