A coalition of student organizations led by the Texas Aggie Democrats has announced a protest at the Academic Plaza to support Draggieland and student speech. Last Friday, the Board of Regents passed a resolution that banned drag events across the Texas A&M System, including Draggieland, the annual on-campus drag show. 

Scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, the participating organizations include oSTEM at Texas A&M and A&M’s Young Democratic Socialists of America and Texas Rising chapters. The Queer Empowerment Council, the student group that organizes and hosts Draggieland, collaborated to announce the demonstration but noted that the protest “is led solely by Aggie Dems.” 

Nuclear engineering senior Kevin Pierce, the president of Aggie Democrats, told The Battalion that he encourages attendees to bring signs and asks those who have experienced limitations on free speech to speak about their experience during the demonstration. He also asked students to share what Draggieland means to them as well. 

Pierce said the protest will remain “entirely peaceful” and asked attendees not to bring megaphones or ways to amplify sound, as such devices are prohibited at the Academic Plaza. 

QEC has recently filed a federal lawsuit against top A&M administrators. The group is represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE. The demonstration coincides with the “Day of Drag” protest, an all-day, on-campus demonstration organized by the Queer Empowerment Council that is asking students to dress in drag to show that it “is not a disturbance.”