Federal Judge Blocks Texas A&M From Banning Drag Shows
A federal judge has blocked the Texas A&M University System from banning drag shows, clearing the way for an upcoming student-run drag performance that administrators had canceled on the grounds that they demeaned women and violated state and federal policies opposing “gender ideology.”
Senior U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas Lee Rosenthal issued a preliminary injunction today finding that the Texas A&M Queer Empowerment Council, a student group, was likely to prevail on its claims that the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents violated its First Amendment rights when it banned a March 27 drag show that the group had already reserved space and sold tickets for.
Rosenthal ruled that there was a high likelihood the A&M Board of Regents had engaged in unconstitutional prior restraint and viewpoint discrimination against the student group, and that the board’s rule banning drag shows was overly vague. Like the vast majority of federal judges who have considered the question, Rosenthal ruled that drag performances were expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment.
“When do performances in which men dress as women cross the line from entertaining to demeaning?” Rosenthal asked after citing the long history of cross-dressing in theater. “The impossibility of objectively answering that question demonstrates why such standards are impermissible as the basis for a restriction on expressive conduct.”
The Queer Empowerment Council filed a First Amendment lawsuit earlier this month against the Texas A&
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