Walter Wendler, president of West Texas A&M University, is being called out after cancelling a student drag show. In an email addressed to students, faculty and staff, Wendler compared drag shows to performing in “blackface.” He also declared that such performances are not only degrading to women, but are “derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny.” The event, planned for March 31, was to be a charity fundraiser for The Trevor Project, which works to reduce suicides in the LGBTQ community. 
In his letter dated March 20, Wendler said that he believes drag shows do not preserve “a single thread of human dignity.” He added that such performances, in his opinion, “stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood.” “As a university president, I would not support ‘blackface’ performances on our campus, even if told the performance is a form of free speech or intended as humor, ” Wendler wrote. “It is wrong. I do not support any show, performance or artistic expression which denigrates others—in this case, women—for any reason.” “No amount of fancy rhetorical footwork or legal wordsmithing eludes the fact that drag shows denigrate and demean women—noble goals notwithstanding,” Wendler said at the end of the letter. “A harmless drag show? Not possible.” Related: Anti-Drag Protesters Vandalize NYC Councilman’s Office & Home But university students and First Amendment lawyers say Wendler’s description of drag shows is off base and the cancellation violates not only First Amendment rights but a state law which protects free-speech rights. In a statement posted on Change.org, where an online petition has been launched in support of the drag show, students say Wendler is violating university policy by suspending the drag show. From The Texas Tribune:
“Not only is this a gross and abhorrent comparison of two completely different topics, but it is also an extremely distorted and incorrect definition of drag as a culture and form of performance art,” students wrote in an online petition condemning Wendler’s letter and urging him to reinstate the show.
Students plan to protest every day this week on the campus in the small West Texas city of Canyon, according to a social media post by the Open and Affirming Congregations of the Texas Panhandle.
Prior to working at West Texas A&M University, Wendler was the chancellor at the Carbondale campus of Southern Illinois University. He was ousted from his position after allegations of plagiarism, and speaking out against giving employee benefits to same-sex partners because it would encourage “sinful behavior.”
A federal judge has ruled that current federal guidelines requiring employers to provide protections for LGBTQ employees go too far in a lawsuit brought by virulently anti-LGBTQ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. 
