A federal judge has temporarily blocked Texas A&M University System, a state university system in Texas, from enforcing a ban on drag shows being held across its 11 campuses, which means the 2025 edition of award-winning drag competition Draggieland will go ahead as planned. Draggieland is an annual
A federal judge has temporarily blocked Texas A&M University System, a state university system in Texas, from enforcing a ban on drag shows being held across its 11 campuses, which means the 2025 edition of award-winning drag competition Draggieland will go ahead as planned.
Draggieland is an annual, sell-out pageant where contestants dress up, dance and answer questions about what drag and LGBTQ+ culture means to them.
In her ruling, Judge Lee H. Rosenthal said the student group that organises Draggieland, the Queer Empowerment Council, was likely to succeed in showing the ban violates the First Amendment.
“Anyone who finds the performance or performers offensive has a simple remedy: don’t go,” Rosenthal wrote.
The students said while their fight isn’t over, they were overjoyed by the decision and vowed to share that joy by putting on the best possible show.
The Queer Empowerment Council, which sued after the system’s board passed a resolution in February banning drag performances across all 11 campuses, argued that the public universities are not allowed to censor student performances based on their personal dislike of its content or perceived ideology.
“Draggieland has been a vibrant and award-winning student-run event for many years, embodying queer joy and unity,” the Queer Empowerment Council said in a statement last month when responding to the ban.
