With ‘Day of Drag,’ Texas students push back against university bans

A group of Texas drag queens set up their eye shadow palettes and contour kits at the University of Texas at Austin campus on Monday, prepared to help students get ready for their last day of class. 

But on this day, what student organizers called the Texas Day of Drag, getting ready for class was also a form of protest against recent anti-drag policies at Texas universities. 

“We’re hoping to send a statement by sending students to class in drag because, at the end of the day, it’s just people having fun in makeup and expressing themselves through their art,” said Lilah La Rouge, an Austin-based drag artist who volunteered at Texas Day of Drag. 

The University of Texas System announced in March that its campuses are not allowed to sponsor drag shows or host them within university facilities. Texas A&M tried to enforce a similar ban across its 11 campuses after the board of regents passed a resolution in late February. 

The Queer Empowerment Council, a group of A&M students, sued the university after they were told they could not host the annual Draggieland competition on campus. On March 24, Judge Lee H. Rosenthal ruled in the council’s favor and temporarily blocked A&M’s ban for violating the First Amendment. 

As of now, the UT System’s policy remains unchallenged in court. 

Gigi Supernova, drag queen (left), and Alex Shawver clap for a performer during the event. Patricia Lim / Texas Standard

UT Austin students used a loophole in the ban’s language to hold a Day of Drag, which didn’t actually include any drag performances. Isabella Thomas, the student organizer behind Texas Day of Drag, said she received university approval to host the event after multiple rounds of meetings with the Office of the Dean of Students. 

“Specifically [the ban] says drag shows,” Thomas said. “I was like, okay, so how far can we push this without actually breaking the drag show thing? Let’s have drag artists come and do makeup. So we’re gonna have students in drag, but is that a drag show? We don’t think it is.” 

Thomas said she wanted the Day of Drag to be a positive form of protest where students could connect with the local LGBTQ+ community. Many students stopped by on their way to class to meet local drag performers and get their makeup done. Thomas also invited a dance instructor to give a line dance workshop. 

“Protest all day and dance all night because you have to restore yourself, you have to find joy and fuel yourself moving forward to withstand whatever’s ahead,” said Nico Osier, who runs the dance group Country Fried Dance in Austin. 

Some of the students at the event were drag performers themselves, and they wanted an opportunity to express their disappointment with the UT System. 

“It can be very up to interpretation with the way that they’ve worded it, and I didn’t know how that was going to affect trans people on campus,” said one UT Austin student who performs under the stage name Butch Chassidy. “Drag is an art form. It’s not something to be banned, and for them to ban it was basically them making a statement saying queer people are no longer accepted here.” 

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The Queer Empowerment Council at A&M also hosted a Day of Drag in early March to protest the board of regents resolution. And three days after the judge made her ruling, the council successfully held its sixth annual Draggieland, which attracted over 700 attendees to A&M’s campus. 

Natasha Nova, who was crowned this year’s Queen of Draggieland, attended the Day of Drag at UT Austin because she wanted to keep supporting Texas college students. 

“When I saw the ban happen, I just felt like College Station wasn’t protecting its queer students,” Nova said. “When the ban was struck down by the judge, I felt so liberated and thought, ‘Hell yeah, we’re on the right side of history.’”

Arwyn Heilrayne (right) gets her makeup done by Extra (left). Patricia Lim / Texas Standard

Nova wasn’t the only popular queen at the function, though. Austin favorite Brigitte Bandit, known for events like LegiSLAYtion & Liberation and Drag Storytime, made her way to UT Austin’s campus to share some Pride history with attendees. 

“Part of drag’s history is that we will always find ways to transform the world around us as well, to make room for one another,” Bandit said to the crowd, reading from a book titled “The Big Reveal.”

It’s unclear at the moment what will come of the UT System’s ban. The ACLU of Texas and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression issued a joint statement last week condemning the policy. If challenged in court, it would likely receive a ruling similar to A&M. 

None of the Texas Day of Drag organizers or participants got in trouble with the university, but it’s clear Texas students will continue to push back against the ban. 

“Hopefully [the UT System] will either define drag and push back on us a little bit the way we’re pushing back on them, and that can spark some sort of legal action,” said Thomas, “or — and this is unlikely — they will shut it down and not implement this ban at all.”

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