Why the “Draggieland” Court Victory Matters for Texas A&M, and for Those Who Believe in the Power of Performance

Draggieland show in Rudder Theater on the Texas A&M campus in College Station on March 28, 2024. Courtesy of Ashely Bautista/The Battalion via the Texas Tribune.

by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder

Some great news out of Texas this week: a federal judge has ruled in favor of the students behind Draggieland, the beloved campus drag show at Texas A&M. After facing a sudden and unconstitutional attempt to cancel the show, the student organizers took action—and won. The court's decision is a powerful affirmation that drag, like all theatrical performance, is a protected form of expression.

This isn’t just about one event or one campus. This win sends a clear message to universities and lawmakers everywhere: performance is speech. Creative expression is a right. And drag, as a form of storytelling and identity, absolutely belongs in the canon of protected theatrical work. I’m celebrating this as a victory for artists, for students, and for every person who’s ever stepped on a stage to be seen and heard.

Theatre has always challenged boundaries—social, political, personal. Drag carries on that tradition with irreverence, glamour, vulnerability, and joy. It’s not just performance. It’s protest. It’s identity. It’s community. And it has every right to exist, especially in academic spaces that are supposed to encourage exploration, discourse, and artistic risk.

I work with students every day who are finding their voice—sometimes for the first time—through performance. They design, write, direct, and perform with incredible heart. They use the stage to process the world around them and imagine the one they want to help build. When their work is protected, they flourish. When it’s silenced, we all lose.

Let’s be honest—what happened at Texas A&M could happen anywhere. A show gets questioned, a student project gets flagged as controversial, and suddenly, the creative work that should be encouraged is treated like a liability. That’s why this moment matters. It reinforces that performance is not a privilege to be granted—it’s a right to be protected.

To the students behind Draggieland: thank you. Your courage will inspire future performers to keep pushing boundaries, keep telling their stories, and keep taking up space. You’ve made something bigger than a show—you’ve made a statement. And I’m standing with you.

Because when we protect the stage, we protect possibility. We protect progress. We protect each other.