From Politico:
WASHINGTON — 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.
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The Texas college dispute first arose last year when the school’s president, Walter Wendler, announced in a letter and column laden with religious references that drag performances would not be allowed on campus. Wendler wrote that the shows discriminate against women and that the performances were “derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny, no matter the stated intent.” Wendler blocked a show scheduled for a year ago.
The Politico report explained that Spectrum WT had filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the university’s ban on drag shows.
Spectrum WT had argued in their lawsuit that drag wasn’t designed to be offensive and claimed it was a celebration of many things, including “queerness, gender, acceptance, love and especially femininity.”
In September a federal judge had ruled in favor of the Texas university. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, had declared in his ruling, “The First Amendment does not prevent school officials from restricting ‘vulgar and lewd’ conduct that would ‘undermine the school’s basic educational mission’ — particularly in settings where children are physically present.”
Spectrum WT appealed to the Supreme Court. On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected the case.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a national civil liberties group representing the student group, fumed over their defeat in a social media post, and vowed that the “show is not over.”
FIRE’s statement on the Supreme Court’s order declining to intervene in Spectrum WT v. Wendler at the current stage of the litigation: pic.twitter.com/K8GyrI9MWI
— FIRE (@TheFIREorg) March 15, 2024
.@JimmyHooverDC reports:
Spectrum WT, through its attorneys, called the school’s drag show ban an unconstitutional “prior restraint” that “will continue to irreparably injure college students’ free expression.” https://t.co/tdBN9SJqYk
— National Law Journal (@TheNLJ) March 16, 2024
The Supreme Court won’t intervene in a dispute over drag shows at a public university in Texas https://t.co/UU4SvtEp7B
— POLITICO (@politico) March 15, 2024
The post REPORT: Supreme Court won’t intervene in a dispute over drag shows at a public university appeared first on Dennis Michael Lynch.
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