Federal appeals court blocks West Texas A&M drag ban

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: The Hill

LGBTQ
Federal appeals court blocks West Texas A&M drag ban

BY BROOKE MIGDON 08/18/25 06:06 PM ET

A federal appeals court on Monday blocked West Texas A&M University from banning student drag performances on its campus, overruling a lower court order that claimed First Amendment protections do not extend to drag shows.

The 2-1 decision from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asserts the university acted unconstitutionally when it canceled student-organized charity drag performances in 2023 and 2024. In a March 2023 email to students, faculty and staff titled, "A Harmless Drag Show? No Such Thing," University President Walter Wendler said drag discriminates against women and compared it to blackface.

"West Texas A&M University will not host a drag show on campus," Wendler wrote in the email, which also referenced his Christian religious beliefs. The school, part of the Texas A&M University System, is public and not religiously affiliated. … "I will not appear to condone the diminishment of any group at the expense of impertinent gestures toward another group for any reason, even when the law of the land appears to require it," Wendler wrote. He added that students should donate directly to the Trevor Project, the LGBTQ youth suicide prevention organization that was to be the drag show's beneficiary.

{snip}

The ruling comes several months after a federal judge handed a victory to another student-led LGBTQ group that sued the Texas A&M University System and its flagship earlier this year over a policy banning drag performances on each of its 11 campuses. … The university system’s Board of Regents voted almost unanimously in February to adopt a resolution that states drag events are inconsistent with the system’s “mission and core values, including the value of respect for others.” The resolution cites an executive order from President Trump that proclaims the U.S. recognizes only two unchangeable sexes, male and female, and aims to prevent federal spending on “gender ideology.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/lgbtq/5458585-west-texas-am-drag-ban-fire-trevor-project/amp/

---

Reposted by No, Just Bella Hat
https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social

Fifth Circuit blocks West Texas A&M University's ban on student drag performances, reversing district court: www.thefire.org/news/victory...

— Adam Steinbaugh (@adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social) 2025-08-18T20:26:48.371Z

Adam Steinbaugh
‪@adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social‬

Follow
Fifth Circuit blocks West Texas A&M University's ban on student drag performances, reversing district court:

https://www.thefire.org/news/victory-5th-circuit-blocks-west-texas-ams-unconstitutional-drag-ban

VICTORY! 5th Circuit blocks West Texas A&M's unconstitutional drag ban
In a victory for student expression on campus, the Fifth Circuit overruled a lower court to halt an unconstitutional ban on student drag performances at West Texas A&M University.
www.thefire.org
August 18, 2025 at 4:26 PM

[twodogsbarking]

1. Come on guys. Be a man and put on a dress. All of you. Jesus wants you to.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Judge Leslie Southwick, a GWB appointee, wrote the opinion reversing Kacsmaryk.

Reposted by No, Just Bella Hat
https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social

Chris Geidner
‪@chrisgeidner.bsky.social‬

Follow
NEWS: The Fifth Circuit today reversed Judge Matt Kacsmaryk's ruling allowing West Texas A&M's president to ban a charity drag show on campus.

Today, Judge Leslie Southwick, a GWB appointee, wrote the opinion reversing Kacsmaryk.

Background at Law Dork:

https://www.lawdork.com/p/university-drag-ban-arguments-focus

Before Dennis, Southwick, and Ho, Circuit Judges.
Leslie H. Southwick, Circuit Judge:
Spectrum WT is an LGBT+ student organization at West Texas
A&M University. It was in the last stages of organizing a drag show on
campus when University President Walter Wendler canceled the show. The
plaintiffs, Spectrum WT and two of its student-officers, sought a preliminary
injunction on the grounds their free speech rights were violated. The district
United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
FILED
August 18, 2025
Lyle W. Cayce
Clerk
Case: 23-10994 Document: 186-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 08/18/2025
No. 23-10994
2
court denied the injunction, partly based on a holding that the First
Amendment did not apply to the drag show. We REVERSE.
ALT
August 18, 2025 at 5:11 PM

NEWS: The Fifth Circuit today reversed Judge Matt Kacsmaryk's ruling allowing West Texas A&M's president to ban a charity drag show on campus.

Today, Judge Leslie Southwick, a GWB appointee, wrote the opinion reversing Kacsmaryk.

Background at Law Dork: www.lawdork.com/p/university...

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) 2025-08-18T21:11:38.456Z

Chris Geidner
‪@chrisgeidner.bsky.social‬

Follow
Judge James Dennis, a Clinton appointee, joined Southwick's opinion.

Judge James Ho, the far-right Trump appointee whose pick-me (for SCOTUS) energy permeates all he does, did just that in his dissent, which my report from arguments predicted quite well.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca5.215914/gov.uscourts.ca5.215914.507660363.1.pdf

James C. Ho, Circuit Judge, dissenting:
Spectrum WT claims that it has a First Amendment right to put on a
drag show in a public facility at West Texas A&M University. But university
officials have determined that drag shows are sexist, for the same reason that
blackface performances are racist. And Supreme Court precedent demands
that we respect university officials when it comes to regulating student
activities to ensure an inclusive educational environment for all. See
Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, 561 U.S. 661 (2010).
I disagree with the Supreme Court’s decision in CLS. But I’m bound
to follow it. And I will not apply a different legal standard in this case, just
because drag shows enjoy greater favor among cultural elites than the
religious activities at issue in CLS.
*
ALT

On Monday, Ho quickly turned the arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. In that case, a public university’s “all-comers” policy — that a student group seeking the benefits of a public university’s recognition must allow all to join the group — was upheld against a First Amendment challenge as being a reasonable, viewpoint-neutral policy.1

It was, at its base, a ruling that a public university can require recognized student groups to adhere to a nondiscrimination policy.

On Monday, though, Ho described it as an edict from the high court that “we have to defer to university administrators, particularly when it comes to issues of inclusion.”
ALT
August 18, 2025 at 5:19 PM

Judge James Dennis, a Clinton appointee, joined Southwick's opinion.

Judge James Ho, the far-right Trump appointee whose pick-me (for SCOTUS) energy permeates all he does, did just that in his dissent, which my report from arguments predicted quite well.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) 2025-08-18T21:19:20.226Z