From the motion for a TRO and preliminary injunction in Texas A&M Queer Empowerment Council v. Mahomes, just filed yesterday by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (JT Morris, Adam Steinbaugh & Jeffrey Zeman):
For years, Plaintiff Queer Empowerment Council has exercised its unquestionable First Amendment right to organize, fund, and host an annual drag show, Draggieland, in venues open for student performances at Texas A&M University–College Station. The recognized student group has been preparing to host Draggieland again at the Rudder Theatre on Texas A&M's campus on the evening of March 27, 2025. Campus staff readily approved the group's reservation months ago.
But on February 28, the Texas A&M System Board of Regents took aim at Draggieland, passing a resolution banning drag shows from campus venues ("Drag Ban"). The Regents left no doubt about their motives, insisting that drag performance "promote[s] gender ideology" and "demeans women." …
Texas A&M University opens performance and event venues in its Rudder Theatre Complex for use by recognized student organizations. These include the Rudder Theatre, one of the venues inside the Rudder Theatre Complex. These venues supplement the classrooms on campus, providing students with spaces to present their own artistic, cultural, and political events—where students can "gain exposure to diverse political thoughts and viewpoints different from their own." Tracking its "Expressive Activity on Campus" policy, the University provides content-neutral regulations for using the Rudder Theatre, And it places no limit on content or subject matter. In fact, the University holds Rudder Theatre out as suitable for "events such as Broadway productions, concerts, variety shows, movies, lectures, conferences, commencement ceremonies, and recitals."
Past and upcoming events in the Rudder Theatre Complex venues include performances of the Broadway musicals Chicago and Hadestown, each employing "mature themes," and The Cher Show, featuring women in risqué costumes. Students also use the Rudder Theatre to hold an annual "Miss Black & Gold" women's pageant. Students and community members seeking entertainment can attend concerts (whether by a jazz ensemble, South Korean pop group, or Brazilian pianist), musical theatre (including student productions of Swan Lake and Oklahoma!), or comedy shows. And student organizations use it to host religious and political meetings, like an appearance by commentator Ben Shapiro, who denounced "transgressivism" by the LGBTQ+ community during his speech.
I think FIRE is generally quite right here. Once the university has broadly opened the theater for student expression, it can't then exclude presentations—whether drag performances or Ben Shapiro speeches—because of their viewpoint. And I agree that banning drag because it "promote[s] gender ideology" and supposedly "demeans women" is a viewpoint-based exclusion. (Theatrical performances have long been recognized as a form of expression that's as protected by the First Amendment as is a speech.)
