As the opening beats of “How Deep is Your Love” by Calvin Harris and Disciples filled the room, a deafening cheer erupted from the crowd inside Texas A&M University’s Rudder Theatre Thursday night. Underneath the shimmering stage lights, host Melaka Mystika stepped forward in towering aqua-blue heels.
Mystika strutted across the stage with each pounding beat of the music. The audience morphed into a shimmering ocean of sequins and glitter. Minutes later, Mystika walked toward the front of the stage, microphone in hand.
“Welcome to the show that almost didn’t happen,” Mystika said. “But guess what? It did!”
The crowd exploded. Draggieland 2025 had officially begun.
The student-run pageant, where drag performers compete to be crowned winner, has been an on-campus tradition since 2020. But just days before contestants took the stage, the annual event had been in jeopardy.
Texas A&M University System officials banned on-campus drag shows in February, calling the performances “inconsistent with the system’s mission and core values.” That decision led to the filing of a federal lawsuit against A&M on behalf of the Queer Empowerment Council, a coalition of LGBTQ+ student groups who argued the ban was unconstitutional censorship.
On Monday, a federal judge agreed with the students and temporarily blocked the policy, allowing Draggieland 2025 to proceed.
About an hour before Thursday night’s performance, showrunner Kelly Risch sat at a booth during an LGBTQ+-vendor event just outside the auditorium. Partner organizations sold shirts, pride flags, rainbow-colored stickers that read “no homophobia” and “come together” and other merchandise. Risch said she and her peers spent a year organizing the show and that it’s been “horrible” not knowing whether the event would even happen.
“To have a group of strangers tell us that we can’t do the show, that’s so hurtful and it goes against what Draggieland is about,” Risch said. “Draggieland is a symbol of queer resilience. We’re queer, we’re here. We’ll always be here, and you can try to get rid of us but we’re not going anywhere.”
Despite the legal back and forth, about 700 people packed the theater. The crowd was a melting pot of students, Aggie alumni and other community members. Some university faculty were there too, like Nathanael Rosenheim, a professor in A&M’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning. This was Rosenheim's first time attending Draggieland. He told The Texas Newsroom that he and his husband, James, felt compelled to support the show after school officials attempted to stop the performance.
“We’re doing this because it’s celebratory, it’s exciting,” Rosenheim said. “It’s something we wanna showcase and bring our community together, the queer community, and it’s just really hard to stop that.”
The energy in the room was electric. One by one, six drag queens and one drag king took to the stage in the hopes that they’d win this year’s pageant. With each lip-sync performance, the audience hooped and hollered in support as stage lights beamed across the auditorium.
Each performer brought their own flair to this year’s theme, “Slaying the Seven Seas.” Venus Evangeline wore a giant shell on their back while launching into a high-energy performance. Sir Loin Long, a self-described “Peter Griffin in a shiny disco ball dress,” proudly swaggered onstage. Long wore a seemingly DIY boat costume atop a blue-sequined top and lip synced to The Lonely Island’s song “I'm on a Boat.”
For many, the evening wasn’t just about entertainment — it was about making a statement. Throughout the night, co-hosts Petty Brooks and Melaka Mystika threw jabs at A&M officials and Texas lawmakers for attempting to put an end to events like Draggieland. Notably, the school’s Board of Regents claimed that these events could create an “hostile” environment that “demeans women” — an argument that was repeatedly denounced by many who took the stage throughout the night.
“Some of the rights that we have now, none of them were won by being nice. They were won by a little scuffle, a little battle,” Mystika said. “I’m always gonna be loud for the people who can’t be loud.”
Lawmakers have intensified their focus on drag under President Donald Trump. Immediately after his inauguration in January, Trump signed an executive order recognizing only two sexes. Through this order, the president also threatened to withhold federal funding for state institutions that promote “gender ideology.” Nearly two weeks ago, officials with the University of Texas System moved to ban its 14 institutions from sponsoring or hosting drag shows. As of now, UT’s ban is still in place.
After the A&M system’s ban was blocked on Monday, a university spokesperson said the system was “evaluating next steps.” The Texas Attorney General’s Office, which is representing A&M in the lawsuit against its students, did not respond when The Texas Newsroom asked if the office planned to appeal the ruling.
Before Thursday’s show, about four dozen students knelt in prayer outside the theater, reciting a rosary "for the souls" of those at Draggieland, according to the Houston Chronicle.
By the end of the three-hour show, two performers were left standing: Natasha Nova and Maria Maria. Thus began an impassioned lip-sync battle between the two drag queens to Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song,” the crowd’s cheers a persistent backdrop against the music. After giving their all, Nova and Maria walked toward the front of the stage, hand in hand, waiting for the final results.
The suspense was finally lifted with the opening of an envelope.
Maria Maria was crowned the winner of Draggieland 2025, the first person of color to win.
“This was gonna be stripped away from us, but luckily, we fought the good fight. We spoke our word like we needed to,” Maria said, just seconds after winning. “That’s our unalienable right.”
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