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FIRE at Texas A&M University have sold out tickets for Draggieland – a pageant-style celebration of LGBTQ+ culture – multiple times since it first debuted on campus in 2020. Queer Empowerment Council, the student group that produces Draggieland, had been planning the 2025 production for months when, on February 28, 2025, the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents abruptly banned all drag shows on all 11 of its campuses. 

To the members of Queer Empowerment Council, drag is an expression of self-discovery and empowerment. Texas A&M officials take a different view, justifying the ban by insisting that drag “promote[s] gender ideology” and “demeans women.” But when a public university censors student speech based on viewpoint – particularly before the students have even had a chance to speak – it violates the Constitution.

On March 5, 2025, with rehearsals fast approaching and less than a month until curtain, FIREsued Texas A&M officials to ensure the show could go on – because a ban targeting drag violates the First Amendment.

On March 24, Judge Lee H. Rosenthal granted a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the drag ban. explaining that the First Amendment’s protection for speech was particularly important in light of “efforts from all sides of the political spectrum to disrupt or prevent students, faculty, and others from expressing opinions and speech” they view as “offensive or wrong.” Draggieland went forward as planned.