BUZZ
Key Takeaways
- A federal appeals court ruled that West Texas A&M University's ban on a drag show, imposed by President Walter Wendler, likely violated students' free speech rights under the First Amendment.
- The court found that drag shows are protected expressive conduct, overturning a prior district court ruling that supported the ban, which Wendler labeled as 'demeaning' to women.
A LGBTQ+ student group at West Texas A&M University may host a drag show on campus despite university President Walter Wendler’s ban on the performance, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the student organization Spectrum WT, ruling that Wendler’s 2023 decision to ban the drag show likely violated students’ free speech.
“Because theatrical performances plainly involve expressive conduct within the protection of the First Amendment, and because we find the plaintiffs’ drag show is protected expression,” the court ruled, overturning a district court’s ruling in favor of the ban.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a campus free speech organization representing Spectrum WT, celebrated the ruling.
“FIRE is pleased that the Fifth Circuit has halted President Wendler’s unconstitutional censorship and restored the First Amendment at West Texas A&M,” Supervising Senior Attorney JT Morris stated in a news release. “This is a victory not just for Spectrum WT, but for any public university students at risk of being silenced by campus censors.”
The lawsuit stems from a March 2023 decision by Wendler, the president of West Texas A&M, to prohibit drag shows on campus, describing it as “demeaning” to women and “demoralizing misogyny,” The College Fix reported previously.
Wendler wrote a lengthy email to the campus community at the time, beginning with the subject line: “A Harmless Drag Show? No Such Thing.”
“As a performance exaggerating aspects of womanhood (sexuality, femininity, gender), drag shows stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood,” Wendler wrote. “Any event which diminishes an individual or group through such representation is wrong.”
The students’ lawsuit alleged Wendler acted with a “retaliatory and oppressive intent … in reckless and callous disregard for their clearly established constitutional rights.”
“Remarkably, Wendler appeared to know he was violating the law by canceling the show. Announcing the cancellation in a campus-wide email, Wendler acknowledged the ‘law of the land appears to require’ him, as the leader of a public university, to permit student expression he dislikes,” FIRE stated in a 2023 news release.
However, in an argument to dismiss the lawsuit, Wendler’s attorneys argued drag shows are not “inherently expressive” and universities are allowed to “prohibit lewd conduct and speech.”
West Texas A&M also has a policy that prohibits “disruptive, lewd or indecent” behavior, Wendler’s attorneys stated.
Spectrum WT organized the show as a fundraiser for The Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention in the LGBTQ community.
A separate but similar case is playing out at Texas A&M University involving the Queer Empowerment Council and drag shows.
In March, a federal judge blocked the university system’s ban on drag performances.
The drag ban constitutes “quintessential” viewpoint discrimination, “which creates the presumption that the ban is unconstitutional regardless of the type of forum,” Judge Lee Rosenthal ruled, The Fix reported.
