The Supreme Court won’t intervene in a dispute over drag shows at a public university in Texas

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.

The high court had previously refused to allow Florida to enforce its law targeting drag shows, while lower federal courts in a Montana, Tennessee and Texas blocked state bans from being implemented. Drag shows across the country have been targeted by right-wing activists and politicians, and events nationwide like drag story hours, where drag queens read books to children, have drawn protesters.

The Texas college dispute first arose last year when the school’s president, Walter Wendrell, announced in a letter and column laden with religious references that drag performances would not be allowed on campus. Wendrell wrote that the shows discriminate against women and that the performances were “derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny, no matter the stated intent.” Wendrell blocked a show scheduled for a year ago.

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