The A Fool’s Drag Race: Student Rights and Expression in the Context of the Texas A&M University Student-Leading Law
A group of students at West Texas A&M University have announced a new venue for their charity drag show, which was initially set to take place on campus before it was canceled by the school’s president.
The performance, titled “A Fool’s Drag Race,” will occur at the Sam Houston Park in Amarillo, according to a flyer posted by Spectrum WT, the university’s student-led LGBT+ organization. The post says it is at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
West Texas A&M University President Walter V. Wendler announced the cancellation of the student drag show in an email earlier this month. In that email, Wendler said drag shows “discriminate against womanhood,” compared them to blackface and said there was “no such thing” as a harmless drag show, angering both students and free speech advocates and prompting a federal lawsuit.
But the organization putting together the performance was determined to make it a reality, and it began a GoFundMe page which helped them secure the new venue, a group member said. The fund raising website raised over $6,000 as of Thursday evening.
We are holding the show no matter what the university has to say. The secretary of Spectrum WT told CNN that their primary goal is to raise money for a good cause and celebrate their identity even if they have to be off-campus. “The show must go on.”
The president of the Spectrum WT organization said that they were upset and disappointed that the Texas A&M System wouldn’t protect our First Amendment rights. “We will be seeing President Wendler in court.”
CNN has reached out to Wendler, the university’s vice president, chancellor and members of the Board of Regents of the Texas A&M University System for comment.
The students are represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which claimed the president violated their First Amendment right by banning the show on campus.
Lee’s approval of the measure – one of nearly a dozen such bills working their way through GOP-led state legislatures – had made Tennessee the first state to restrict public drag show performances this year.
The judge delayed the enforcement of the measure for at least 14 days as he considers the legality of it.
The state has failed to provide apelling government interest for why it should regulate drag performances so severely, as the Court found that the Statute was likely vague and overly- broad.
The legislation – signed into law by Republican Gov. Bill Lee earlier this month – seeks to limit “adult cabaret performances” on public property so as to shield them from the view of children, threatening violators with a misdemeanor and repeat offenders with a felony. The ban specifically includes “male or female impersonators” who perform in a way that is “harmful to minors.” It was set to go into effect April 1.
The Defendants lack of clear answers to the Statute’s purpose, along with the Parties’ present filings on its legislative history, is enough to cause the Court to think that the Statute is likely to be brought against them.
The judge’s order will protect the First Amendment rights of not only our clients, but of the LGBTQIA community across Tennessee, said the attorney for the defendants.
Republicans claim the performances expose children to sexual themes and imagery that are inappropriate, but advocates say the proposed measures are against the LGBTQ community and could violate First Amendment laws.
As drag culture has increasingly become more mainstream, such shows – which often feature men dressing as women in exaggerated makeup while singing or entertaining a crowd, though some shows feature bawdier content – have occasionally been the target of attacks, and LGBTQ advocates say the bills under consideration add to a heightened state of alarm for the community.