Republican Tarrant County Judge is asking the University of Texas System to ban drag shows on its campuses.
In a post on X, O’Hare shared a letter to UT’s Board of Regents dated March 13, calling drag shows “sexually-oriented events.”
Because the UT System gets federal funding, banning drag shows would help it comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that “federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology,” O'Hare wrote.
“The UT System exists to provide quality education to hundreds of thousands of students. Rather than promoting anything to do with education, drag shows and related events denigrate women,” he wrote.
Yesterday, I sent a letter to the UT-System Board of Regents regarding the use of taxpayer resources for sexually-oriented events. pic.twitter.com/vV5dj8fyLq
— Office of Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare (@TarrantCoJudge) March 14, 2025
O’Hare cited an event at UT Arlington in February that featured a drag performer, but he did not specify which event. KERA News has reached out to UTA and the UT System for comment.
UTA’s Queer Social Work Association hosted an event last month that featured a drag queen. Association cofounder and CEO Elwim Sorto said O'Hare has the wrong idea about drag.
“If anything, it's an admiration for womanhood," he said.
The event was to promote sexual health and to show people “that there’s still a community on campus, that there’s still people trying to do the work,” Sorto said.
Last legislative session, a law known as SB 17 banned diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at Texas’ public universities. That led UTA to shut down its LGBTQ+ resource program.
“Even though these people are trying to put us down, right, trying to say that we probably don't necessarily exist, right, that we're still here,” Sorto said. “We're still providing a positive space, with Lady Gaga playing in the background, Chappell Roan. And that we're not going anywhere.”
The event didn’t get any money from the university, Sorto said.
“This is something that was solely hosted and coordinated by us. There was no involvement of UTA — anything that coincides with SB 17,” he said.
Texas A&M has already banned drag performances on its campuses, including the annual Draggieland event in College Station.
“It was encouraging to see a public university system complying with the law, prioritizing education, and valuing women,” O’Hare wrote in his letter.
The Queer Empowerment Council, a coalition of student organizations, sued Texas A&M over the ban.
"Drag is self-expression, drag is discovery, drag is empowerment, and no amount of censorship will silence us," the council said in a statement. "We are committed to ensuring that our voices are heard, and that Draggieland will go on, no matter the obstacles we face."
Conservative politicians around the country have moved to restrict drag performances in recent years.
In 2023, O'Hare called for an investigation of a Fort Worth bar that hosted an all-ages drag show.
He asked the state comptroller to look into whether the bar was operating as an unlicensed sexually-oriented business — a designation usually reserved for places like strip clubs and adult bookstores.
Drag is not inherently sexual, Equality Texas spokesperson Johnathan Gooch told KERA News at the time.
“Just as with any other type of performance, there are PG versions and there are PG-13 versions,” he said.
To Sorto, the Queer Social Work Association’s event was not inappropriate just because there was a drag queen there — and targeting drag shows isn't helping anyone.
“It’s just because it's queer," he said.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org.
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