XPost: alt.abuse.offender, alt.politics.republicans, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: NoBody@nowhere.com   
      
   On Tue, 25 Mar 2025 23:02:19 -0000 (UTC), "P. Coonan"   
    wrote:   
      
   >A drag show scheduled for this week at Texas A&M University can go on as   
   >scheduled despite a Board of Regents ban on such performances, a federal   
   >judge ruled Monday.   
   >   
   >The ruling from Houston-based U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal blocked a   
   >university ban on drag performances on free speech grounds.   
   >   
   >“To ban the performance from taking place on campus because it offends   
   >some members of the campus community is precisely what the First Amendment   
   >prohibits,” Rosenthal, who was nominated to the bench by the late   
   >President George H.W. Bush, said in her opinion.   
   >   
   >The ruling blocks the ban while the broader legal case over it moves   
   >forward. The decision echoes others in recent years from the U.S. Supreme   
   >Court, which refused to let Florida enforce a statewide ban, and district   
   >courts in a Montana, Tennessee and Texas.   
   >   
   >Texas A&M has become a flashpoint in the most recent chapter of the legal   
   >battle.   
   >   
   >Two years ago, the president of West Texas A&M in Canyon, said a drag show   
   >scheduled for that campus could not move ahead. In response to a legal   
   >challenge, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk said the university could   
   >block the show, finding it contained “sexualized content” and could be   
   >more regulated than other forms of speech.   
   >   
   >The U.S. Supreme Court last year declined to take the case when the   
   >student group behind it appealed.   
   >   
   >This time around, the backdrop is different. The Board of Regents passed a   
   >policy banning drag shows across the university system on Feb. 28, after   
   >tickets had already been sold to the “Draggieland” show on the flagship   
   >campus in College Station. The show has been an annual event there since   
   >2020.   
   >   
   >   
   >In the first two years, the university supported it financially. But in   
   >recent years, the student group Texas A&M Queer Empowerment Council has   
   >been responsible for all the funding.   
   >   
   >The university argued that allowing the show could jeopardize federal   
   >funding for the university in light of President Donald Trump’s executive   
   >order barring federal money to support what he calls “ gender ideology.”   
   >It noted how funds were cut off from Columbia University.   
   >   
   >The judge decided that allowing the event does not imply that the   
   >university endorses it. By allowing it, she said, the university could   
   >comply with the “constitutional obligation to allow different messages and   
   >viewpoints, including those viewed as offensive to some, to be expressed   
   >at a university that is committed to critical thought about a wide range   
   >of conflicting and divergent viewpoints and ideologies.”   
   >   
   >A university spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for   
   >comment.   
   >   
   >https://apnews.com/article/texas-university-am-drag-show-ban-judge-   
   >bf4ccaaf112b41602b6a5c0a6f011bc5   
      
   Another judge exceeding his authority by ordering an event to take   
   place.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)