The Texas A&M University System, which comprises eleven schools, has banned drag shows from occurring on any of its campuses for contradicting its values and violating Title IX and federal directives to cease promoting “gender ideology.”
The Texas A&M System’s Board of Regents voted on the resolution prohibiting drag shows on Friday, February 28. The primary legal justification for the measure is that Title IX prohibits events that may lead to discrimination based on sex. According to the Board, drag shows are “likely to create or contribute to a hostile environment for women.”
“These events often involve unwelcome and objectively offensive conduct based on sex for many members of the respective communities of the Universities, particularly when they involve the mockery or objectification of women,” the document states.
It also states that drag shows violate the System’s values, including “respect for others.”
“The Board finds that it is inconsistent with the System’s mission and core values” to allow drag shows, which “involve biological males dressing in women’s clothing, wearing exaggerated female make up and/or exaggerated prostehics meant to parody the female body tpe, and that are: open to the publc; involve sexualized, vulgar or lewd conduct; and involve conduct that demeans women.”
University drag shows often reflect the resolution’s characterization, as Campus Reform reporting has shown.
For example, a Texas-based Trinity University “drag brunch” from 2023 included a male performer matching the Board’s description. The performers danced outside of a Christian chapel on campus.
A recent University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth drag show hosted a professional drag queen, whose bio says the performer “can be found bumping, grinding, creeping, and crawling with the Slaughterhouse Society and Rogue Burlesque all around New England.”
The resolution is already having an effect. Organizers of the annual Texas A&M “Draggieland,” scheduled for Thursday, March 27, have stated they are looking for a place to host the event off-campus.
In addition to citing Title IX, the Texas A&M measure also recognizes President Donald Trump’s recent executive order upholding that there are only two sexes and prohibiting the promotion of “gender ideology,” as well as a January 30 letter from Texas Governor Greg Abbot directing state agencies, which include state-run universities, to comply with the law.
Campus Reform contacted the Board of Regents for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
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