PBS NewsHour: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected an emergency appeal from a student group that has been blocked from staging a drag show at a public university in Texas.
The justices did not comment Friday in refusing to issue an order that would have allowed Spectrum WT — a group for LGBTQ+ students and allies — to put on a charity show on March 22 on the campus of West Texas A&M University in Canyon, located just south of Amarillo.
4 comments:
I wish I knew more in more detail about the law in general. I think it would make it a lot easier to navigate articles like this if I knew exactly what and how the law works, I mean it's not like I know nothing but I certainly know less about law and Texas and public universities. I think it's very very interesting how it is a public university and they can be barred from performing a drag show. Logically that doesn’t make sense to me because it is a public space, especially if they aren’t using the university funding I am not sure I understand how legally they can bar a production from taking place, especially in a state where they value their independence and rights so much, especially with the first and second amendment. I think the decision of the court not to get involved is not shocking but disappointing. I do hope that eventually the state and university see that what these people of fighting for is exactly the same thing they think is so important to protect, the First Amendment.
I do not understand why people have such a thing against people putting on drag shows. I feel like the right-winged activists that continuously target drag queens do not fully understand what drag queens are trying to do. A lot of the time right-winged activists argue that drag shows are vulgar or inappropriate, and yes, sometimes they can be, but drag queens also do shows for children that are all about a celebration of love and acceptance. It’s upsetting that, yet again, people are being prevented from expressing themselves. I wish that the Supreme Court would have done something about this because this case is a clear denial of the First Amendment right to free speech. Drag queens should be allowed to express their creativity and celebrate with others in a show. People need spaces where they can be themselves, and if these shows get taken away, people will start to feel less and less comfortable being who they are.
I find it interesting that a public university can so blatantly discriminate against a group of people and the courts will do nothing about it. I guess free speech be damned, especially in a state that gets so up in arms about their rights. Am I surprised by this, absolutely not. I just find it crazy how much things have changed since the election of 2016. I was in undergrad during the 2016 election and remember how little my public university did to curb hate speech. Heck, Trump even campaigned on our campus, with no issues from the university. And it was the campaign event where he encouraged violence against Hilary Clinton, and yet nothing. Drag shows, on the other hand, can be banned on a public university’s campus, which a university has the ability to make an event only open to those above the age of 18, so no “think of the children”.
Personally, I think this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life. The Supreme Court is worrying about ALL of the WRONG fucking things. There are so many other things that need fixing in our world that aren't drag shows. I remember during O Week we had an event called drag bingo. And it was the FUNNIEST live show I’ve ever watched in my entire life. Like. why is this the first thing on our minds? A quote that stood out to me was “shows discriminate against women and that the performances were “derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny, no matter the stated intent.”” and I think that is the complete opposite of what a Drag show is supposed to be.
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