The LGBTQ+ student group at West Texas A&M University in Canyon goes to the U.S. Supreme Court alleging free speech violations after the public university’s president canceled a scheduled on-campus drag show. He asked for emergency relief.
Spectrum WT student organizations and student leaders are seeking an injunction to allow the show to continue while the lawsuit continues in lower courts.
“This act of censorship is nothing more than the president’s personal opinion that performances planned on campus are ‘degrading’ and ‘ridiculing.'[s]“and defamed” the woman,” the appeal filed Wednesday said.
“Without an immediate injunction, the prior restraints based on the viewpoints that have been on West Texas A&M for nearly a year will continue to irreparably harm the freedom of expression of university students.”
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Spectrum WT student organizations and student leaders are seeking an injunction to allow the show to continue while litigation over alleged free speech violations continues in lower courts. (Reuters/Axel Schmidt)
The appeal goes directly to Justice Samuel Alito, who can decide the issue alone or consult his colleagues.
The first lawsuit was filed last March by the legal advocacy group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
The complaint alleges that University President Walter Wendler is a student who sought to prevent LGBTQ+ suicides, citing personal religious beliefs and drag shows as “ridiculous, divisive, demoralizing, and misogynistic.” They claim that the organization’s charity drag show fundraiser was unilaterally canceled.
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American drag queen Trixie Mattel performs “Trixie Mattel and Katia Zamo” on stage at Moontower Just for Laughs held at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas on April 13, 2022. Includes the episode “Bald Beauty”. (Photo by Rick Kahn/Getty Images)
The lawsuit also alleges that Wendler, in an email to the campus, said, “For whatever reason, it appears that we do not intend to tolerate the decline of our group at the expense of our brash attitude towards other groups.” The lawsuit alleges that the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution was violated. The laws of the land seem to require it. ”
“I believe that all human beings are created in the image of God, and therefore dignified person.is created with statue of god is the basis of natural law,” Wendler said in an email.
“Do drag shows preserve a strand of human dignity? I don’t think so. As a performance that exaggerates aspects of femininity (sexuality, femininity, gender), drag shows are for the entertainment of others. “It radically stereotypes women as cartoons and discriminates against their femininity,” he said.
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District courts and the Court of Appeals refused to issue a decision early, so FIRE appealed to the Supreme Court ahead of the scheduled performance on March 22nd. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
District courts and the Court of Appeals refused to issue a decision early, so FIRE appealed to the Supreme Court ahead of the scheduled performance on March 22nd.
FIRE attorney Adam Steinbaugh added, “With only a few weeks left until Spectrum WT’s next show, our client’s and West Texas A&M’s freedom of expression demands immediate court intervention.” , the group added, “We are asking the Supreme Court to intervene and put an end to this case.” Censorship has shut down protected speech for too long at West Texas A&M. ”
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Representatives for West Texas A&M declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
