COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KRHD) — It's been almost a week since the Texas A&M Board of Regents banned on-campus drag shows. The decision sparked a federal lawsuit and a "Day of Drag" protest on campus Thursday.
- The Texas A&M Board of Regents unanimously voted Friday to ban on-campus drag performances like the annual Draggieland show.
- In response, student organization, the Queer Empowerment Council, organized a "Day of Drag" protest, dressing in drag attire to emphasize drag as an art of self-expression.
- The organization is working to reschedule Draggieland at an off-campus location but has started a petition, which has garnered about 1,500 signatures.
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"Seeing the support and the community coming through today, it has been amazing," Angelo Rios, a member of the Queer Empowerment Council's outreach committee, said.
From bold make-up to elaborate costumes, Texas A&M students are dressing in drag to protest the university's decision to ban drag shows on campus.
The Board of Regents unanimously passed the resolution Friday, saying that the shows are inconsistent with the system's "core values" and are likely to create a "hostile environment for women."
The Regents also believe it could be seen as promoting gender ideology, which Gov. Greg Abbott and President Donald Trump say could jeopardize state or federal funds.
That ban includes the Queer Empowerment Council's annual Draggieland show scheduled for later this month.
15ABC talked to Angelo Rios, one of the show's organizers, who was shocked by the decision.
"It is disappointing and disheartening, considering how, you know, one of our values is to respect, and they [Board of Regents] cite respect. I felt very disrespected with that decision," Rios said.
But Dulce Gabbana, a performer in the show, tells 15ABC she wasn't surprised, especially since the university stopped sponsoring the event in 2022.
"We don't have enough resources for our queer youth and then they take another resource away, so I'm hurt in the fact that it hurt the community itself. It hurt the youth," Gabbana said.
Now, with the 'Day of Drag' protest, they're hoping to show the system that drag isn't a "disturbance," a form of art and that banning it "violates their freedom of expression."
"What we're trying to show is that it's mostly just clothes, it is putting on whatever, you want, and being ostentatious with it," Rios said.
"I feel that they don't understand that the Draggieland contestants weren't all women nor all men," Gabbana said.
"Queerness isn't something that you can just shove away, you can't swipe it under a rug. It's in your families. It's in your town. It's in your home, and it's on campus."
