UPDATE, 3/5/2025, 1:29 p.m.: The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has filed a federal lawsuit blocking Texas A&M University's ban on drag performances, the civil rights group announced Wednesday. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a student organization called the Queer Empowerment Council, names members of the A&M system's board of regents, the system's chancellor and Texas A&M University President Mark Welsh as defendants.
Original article below:
After six years of teasing her hair so high it brushes heaven, Jessy B. Darling has paid her drag dues. She has competed in countless late-night shows; when she was starting out on the drag queen circuit in 2019, Darling would leave class at Texas A&M University only to drive across the state just to make an open mic show.
She is just starting to brush full-time status as a drag queen, and day shifts at an H-E-B in San Antonio supplements the income she receives from her shows. It was at H-E-B where, last Friday, she experienced the “worst lunch break ever.”
Darling, 25, opened her phone to a barrage of news alerts announcing an official ban on drag performances at all 11 of the A&M University system's campuses.
The resolution was passed by the system’s Board of Regents unanimously, with one member absent. The ban describes a “hostile environment for women” created by drag, and says the performances promote a gender ideology contrary to the beliefs of President Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
The resolution directs the presidents of each A&M university to cancel any upcoming drag shows or else risk federal funding. Draggieland, an annual drag competition hosted at the College Station campus each year, was scheduled for March 27 and now has less than a month to find a new, off-campus venue.
“Part of me started fuming, and another part of me kind of went a little numb,” Darling told the Observer. “I was just betrayed, you know? I've been an A&M girl since I was a baby. I was in A&M onesies. I always knew I was gonna go to that school no matter what.”
The Black Sheep
Darling grew up in Houston, raised by a family full of A&M fans. It was never a question whether she’d follow in their footsteps and attend the university — one of the few interests she shared with her conservative family.
Growing up identifying as queer, Darling often felt like the black sheep of her family. It was a feeling she experienced again when she started out in drag. She's a cis-gendered woman, some people felt uncomfortable or confused by her interest in the art form. While cis or transgender women competing in drag is becoming more commonplace in larger hubs for the community, Darling was “on her own” in College Station.
While the crowds in some local bars appreciated the emerging drag performances, some didn’t quite understand them.
“It felt like a lot of the crowds were just kind of there for a circus,” Darling said.
She’s a winner baby! Jessy B Darling as the reigning Queen of Draggieland! ✨ pic.twitter.com/Lgw6XLvcfb
— Draggieland (@Draggieland) April 19, 2022
Darling eventually carved out a place for herself among the small but mighty College Station drag community. When an on-campus drag pageant called Draggieland was started by a student group called The Queer Empowerment Council in 2020, Darling felt she and her fellow queens were finally making inroads at her university.
“(Draggieland) definitely opened some more doors as far as exposing more drag to the community out in College Station and to the student body of Texas A&M,” Darling said. “It was so much fun … But every single year they tried to take us down and every single year they failed. So hopefully it will be the same this year.”
Not everyone at A&M’s flagship campus was welcoming of Draggieland. Darling recalls being “scared” to go outside the venue in its first year because “it felt like there were threats being made” by those who felt the show was inconsistent with A&M’s values.
In 2022, the year Darling was crowned queen of the whole shebang, Texas A&M officials made an effort to distance the university from the event. Several student groups were forced to band together for a last-minute fundraising attempt after administrators denied the event access to student-run entertainment funding, which included profits from past shows.
"There was a part of me that was like I don't even know if I want to advertise that I went to this school anymore.” — Jessy B. Darling, Draggieland Queen 2022
tweet this
This year, as the Board of Regents has sent the event scrambling, Darling says something feels different.
“Scrolling through Facebook, everybody's posting about how we're still not going to back down,” Darling said. “I feel like this year since it is the inauguration year, I feel like a lot of people are more upset this time than they were in previous years. I feel like there's a lot more fire in everybody to fight this.”
Freedom of Expression
The Texas A&M University system is already facing one lawsuit over an attempt to ban drag on campus.
Last March, West Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler announced the cancellation of a student-run drag show, writing the “slapstick” performances were an attempt to “denigrate and demean women.” In an email sent to university faculty, student and staff members, Wendler acknowledged that the performance should be allowed under the First Amendment, but said he nevertheless would not “condone” the behavior on his campus.
In response to the show’s cancellation, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) sued Wendler. The case is making its way through the court system.
In a statement made in response to Friday’s Board of Regents decision, FIRE senior attorney JT Morris reiterated that drag falls under First Amendment protected expression.
“Whether drag or Bible study, public universities cannot ban or punish students’ protected expression,” Morris said. “Banning speech because it might offend someone else is viewpoint discrimination, the third rail of the First Amendment."
At Texas A&M’s flagship campus, Draggieland’s student supporters are also gearing up for a fight. Earlier this week, student organizers with the Queer Empowerment Council announced a “Day of Drag” protest, planned for March 6. The group is encouraging students to come to campus in their “best drag outfits,” to show their support for the art form.
Draggieland organizers have also announced they are looking to reschedule or relocate the event.
Darling graduated from Texas A&M University in 2022, so to some extent, Friday’s ban isn’t stopping her from continuing to advance in Texas’ drag community. On the other hand, Texans tend to be extremely sentimental when it comes to their state school alma maters. She wears her Aggie ring — the most sacred status symbol of academic achievement for an A&M student — so religiously she feels “naked” without it.
She even wears it when in drag.
“I had a show last Friday night, and I thought about it. For the first time ever, I thought, ‘Do I really want to wear my ring tonight?'” Darling said. “I convinced myself [to wear it] because I earned that ring. But there was a part of me that was like I don't even know if I want to advertise that I went to this school anymore.”
