GOP-appointed judge shuts down Texas university's ban on students putting on drag showshttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/08/gop-appointed-judge-shuts-down-texas-universitys-ban-on-students-putting-on-drag-shows/Daniel Villarreal (19 Aug 2025)
A federal appeals court has ruled that West Texas A&M University's ban on student organization drag performances violates the Constitution's First Amendment protections of free speech. The court's Thursday ruling overturns a 2023 district court ruling in favor of the university.
In March 2023, West Texas A&M University president Walter Wendler sent a letter to students, faculty, and staff announcing that the student LGBTQ+ group Spectrum WT's upcoming drag event benefitting the Trevor Project, scheduled for March 31 of that year, had been canceled. Though the organizers had promised to avoid any profanity or lewdness and to bar attendance from anyone younger than 18, Wendler's letter still characterized drag as a form of "derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny" and also compared it to blackface.
In its 2-1 decision issued last Thursday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leslie H. Southwick (an appointee of former President George W. Bush) wrote that theatric performances and drag shows, "plainly involve expressive conduct within the protection of the First Amendment."