UNT leadership fears of possibly losing funds because of the new education crusade from the government.As they are after classes, gender identity and sexuality. UNT knows it cannot afford to eliminate the sociology, psychology, and theology programs entirely, since discussions of these topics occur in the classes. As any fearless leader would do, a hasty decision had to be made.
The fastest option was banning drag shows. A month before, Texas A and M had done the same ban and got away with it, since the court was still discussing whether to ban the ban. The cherry on top was that no one in drag was protesting it on campus, further proving the ban was a good choice.
All prior drag show events were created by students for fun or to collect donations for a cause. None of the funds came from the university budget. So, which government official would be dumb enough to identify student activities as a part of the university’s gay curricula? If that were the case, then they would have to believe that students are getting credits from partying, having sex, doing molly, or playing frisbee. Even the most homophobic officials would be confused about this.
In this case, it would have been easier to ban speakers who specialize in anything LGBTQ or simply change a bit of the problematic curricula? For instance, for the sexuality studies class, they can add a lecture on why being gay could be a bad thing. UNT could even add a “MAGA-approved” college course list. Such classes could include “The Myth of the Moon Landing”, “Fascism 101”, and “Fighting gay thoughts for the Modern Man.”
After 6 months, a judge lifted the ban from Texas A and M first, then
receiving a joint letter from FIRE/ACLU. It was deemed unconstitutional, so at least they look good in the administration’s eyes at the end.
