Supreme Court justices are given various states in the country to address special circumstances. Alito oversees Texas. 

Spectrum WT, a group which describes itself as LGBTQIA+ students and allies who meet weekly and host events in the community, filed a lawsuit last year against West Texas A&M University. It claimed the university was violating its First Amendment right of free speech. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is a nonprofit free speech advocacy group. It is representing the students. When Alito ruled against the drag show on campus, FIRE voiced disappointment and said it will continue to fight for the group. FIRE noted that the 5th Circuit will hear oral arguments next month. 

Last year the students held their charity drag show off campus but the litigation continued.

University President Walter Wendler weighed in on the drag show last year. He's not a fan of drag shows. He said they don't "preserve a single thread of human dignity." He noted that drag shows are "misogynistic" and show "women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others." He said the group's fundraising for the Trevor Project was "noble" as he expressed his concerns. Trevor Project works as a suicide prevention resource. He went on to say, "Drag shows are derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny, no matter the stated intent," likening it to blackface. 

Last September, a district court judge denied the group's request for a preliminary injunction. At the time, the judge said, "It is not clearly established that all drag shows are inherently expressive." The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled arguments on the case for late April.

On Tuesday it was reported that despite a faculty vote of no confidence against him after last year's cancellation, President Wendler canceled a second drag show last week. He said he was banning “any show, performance or artistic expression which denigrates others.” He did so after the Supreme Court (Alito) denied the injunction. 

Bringing a comparison to blackface escalated the argument. Last year a widely-respected conservative campaign strategist and consultant in New York, New Jersey, and Texas who has also advised dozens of state house and senate races agreed with President Wendler. 

Sherry Sylvester began her opinion piece by using the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture's description of blackface.

“Minstrelsy, comedic performances of “blackness” by whites in exaggerated costumes and make-up, cannot be separated fully from the racial derision and stereotyping at its core. By distorting the features and culture of African Americans—including their looks, language, dance, deportment, and character—white Americans were able to codify whiteness across class and geopolitical lines as its antithesis.”

Change blackness to womanhood and you have a precise definition of drag—”comedic performances of women by men in exaggerated costumes and make-up…” The only difference is that most thinking people have long recognized that blackface is the essence of racism and hate. As the Smithsonian notes, it “cannot be separated from racial derision and stereotyping at its core.” Similarly, drag shows are all about misogyny and utter contempt for women.

She noted that there is little outrage about drag shows as they have been mainstreamed and normalized in our culture. Like President Wendler, she is concerned about how women are portrayed by drag show performers. Sylvester said women are portrayed as "catty, bitchy, dumb, and obsessed with sex." She used an example of Nancy Pelosi's appearance as a guest on RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars. Pelosi praised the men for the “joy and beauty you bring into the world.”

Sylvester said that both blackface and drag shows date back to Shakespeare. Women were not allowed to act in Elizabethan times. Experts believe that Shakespeare's hand-written stage directions, "DRAG" meant "dressed as a girl." However, there is no disdain for women indicated in his works. For example, Juliet, Lady Macbeth, Beatrice, Viola, and Cordelia were not stereotypes, Sylvester argues, even though they were portrayed by men.

Othello was played by white actors in blackface until modern day productions. Shakespeare understood racism. In Shakespeare's day, slavery wasn't particularly controversial and witches were still being burned.

So, how did we get here?

Blackface migrated to America and took hold in the 1830s.  Jim Crow was a blackface character. According to the Smithsonian, minstrel shows including troupes of white actors performing as black people became popular after the Civil War and continued until relatively recently. They note that “The Black and White Minstrel Show” was a popular British television show until the late 1970s. It ended after the Civil Rights movement in the United States heightened awareness about racism.

The students at WTAMU claim that banning drag shows is an offense to the LGBTQ community but, Sylvester said, there may be a parallel with blackface. Al Jolson, the King of Blackface, was praised for his musical talent though his act would never be considered possible today. Some African Americans believed he brought black music to the theatre at a time when black performers were not allowed to appear on stage.

One of the ugliest things about blackface is that it perpetuated the most violent racism in America by pushing racial stereotypes that black men were stupid with enormous sexual appetites. Alleging rape was one of the most common motivations for lynching, and blackface played a huge role in pushing that myth.

Drag pushes similar sexual stereotypes about women including overdone facial makeup—massive brows, lips and lashes, exaggerated breasts and wildly gyrating sexual movements that suggest voracious sexual appetites.

That is Sylvester's argument that President Wendler is right when he says there is no such thing as a harmless drag show. Sylvester went on to compliment Texas State Senator Bryan Hughes for Texas Senate Bill 12 and Texas Senate Bill 1608. Those bills restrict drag shows to adult audiences and prohibit them in public libraries. 

It's an interesting argument.