Texas judge halts university’s ban on on-campus drag shows

U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal on Monday granted a temporary injunction against a Texas A&M University policy prohibiting drag performances at all of the school’s 12 campuses. Rosenthal ruled the policy was unconstitutional and argued that the Constitution protects theatrical expressions. In her ruling, she pointed to the historical precedent of men portraying women in William Shakespeare’s plays and modern performances including the play Hairspray and the movie Mrs. Doubtfire. Due to the ruling, a drag show scheduled to take place Thursday evening at the university’s Rudder Theatre in College Station can go forward as planned.

What is the history of the case? The Texas A&M Board of Regents in February voted to ban the performances in light of President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for the ending of federal funding for schools that employ gender ideology. The regents said drag shows were vulgar and inconsistent with the university’s core values. School officials also argued the performances denigrated women. West Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler in 2023 canceled a planned drag show and argued that, like blackface, such performances belittle a group of people.

The free speech advocacy group the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression earlier this month sued the school over its policy on behalf of the student group Queer Empowerment Council. In response to Monday’s ruling, FIRE’s attorney Adam Steinbaugh said public university officials cannot block student expression.

Dig deeper: Read Erin Hawley’s opinion piece about the U.S. Supreme Court hearing a case involving so-called drag queen storytime in public schools.