Student group challenges Texas A&M drag ban

A group of students is suing the Texas A&M University System after a vote last week banned all drag performances from taking place on its 11 campuses. 

The resolution and subsequent lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the Southern District of Texas, are the latest developments in a yearslong battle within one of the nation’s largest university systems over on-campus drag performances. 

Texas A&M’s Board of Regents voted almost unanimously late last month in favor of a resolution that states drag events are inconsistent with the system’s “mission and core values, including the value of respect for others.” 

The resolution says drag shows are “likely to create or contribute to a hostile environment for women” in violation of university anti-discrimination policies and Title IX, the federal civil rights law against sex discrimination. “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 says. 

The document directs the system’s chancellor and the president of each university to prohibit drag shows from taking place on campus, citing an executive order from President Trump that proclaims the government recognizes only two sexes, male and female, and broadly prevents federal funds from being used to promote what Trump and his administration have called “gender ideology.” 

The resolution also acknowledges a Jan. 30 letter from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) commanding state agencies to implement Trump’s order. 

“Given that both the System and the Universities receive significant federal funding, the use of facilities at the Universities for Drag Show Events may be considered promotion of gender ideology in violation of the Executive Order and the Governor’s directive,” the resolution says. 

A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday by students at Texas A&M University, the system’s flagship institution, argues the resolution violates their First Amendment rights and the Texas Open Meetings Act, which requires governmental bodies to post a meeting’s location and agenda at least 72 hours in advance. 

The resolution’s adoption means “Draggieland,” an annual drag competition at A&M, will need to find a new host. The event scheduled for March 27 had been set to take place at the school’s Rudder Theater. 

“We refuse to let Texas A&M dictate which voices belong on campus,” the students, known collectively as the Queer Empowerment Council, said in a statement. “Drag is self-expression, drag is discovery, drag is empowerment, and no amount of censorship will silence us.” 

A system spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit. 

“Public universities can’t shut down student expression simply because the administration doesn’t like the ‘ideology’ or finds the expression ‘demeaning,’” said Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney at the nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which is representing the Queer Empowerment Council in court. 

The organization also represented students at West Texas A&M University in a 2023 lawsuit over the university president’s decision to cancel a charity drag show on campus. West Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler argued drag performances degrade women and compared them to blackface. 

“If other students dislike or disagree with Draggieland, the solution is simple: don’t go,” said Jeff Zeman, another FIRE attorney. “Or they could organize a protest, as students opposing drag have in the past. The First Amendment protects drag and the ability to criticize drag — and it forbids the government silencing the side it disagrees with.” 

A Texas state law against drag performances was ruled unconstitutional in 2023. U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas David Hittner, a former President Reagan appointee, ruled that drag is expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment.

Last week, the Supreme Court turned away a case challenging similar restrictions on drag in Tennessee, leaving that law partially intact.