According to the university resolution, the board believes drag shows are “inconsistent with the System’s mission and core values of its universities” and that they “likely create or contribute to a hostile environment for women … as these events often involve unwelcome and objectively offensive conduct based on sex.”

The resolution references President Donald Trump‘s controversial executive order that makes it federal policy to recognize only male and female genders assigned “at conception,” while threatening federal funding for promoting gender ideology.

It states that since the system and its universities receive federal funding, the use of its facilities for drag shows “may be considered promotion of gender ideology” in violation of the executive order and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott‘s Jan. 30 letter directing state agencies to adopt its policies.

The ban had canceled Texas A&M Queer Empowerment’s fifth annual — and previously scheduled — Draggieland performance on March 27, despite 168 tickets having already been sold.

Their lawsuit, filed March 5 by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, accused the resolution of being a First Amendment violation, and Judge Lee Rosenthal of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Monday agreed.

“In recent years, the commitment to free speech on campuses has been both challenging and challenged,” she said in her opinion.

“There have been efforts from all sides of the political spectrum to disrupt or prevent students, faculty and others from expressing opinions and speech that are deemed, or actually are, offensive or wrong. But the law requires the recognition and application of speech rights and guardrails that preserve and protect all our treasured First Amendment rights.”

In her ruling, the President George H.W. Bush appointee cited previous cases showing that drag shows are considered “expressive conduct” and are protected speech. She also noted that the board’s argument that Draggieland is not directly contracts with its assertion that drag performances promote an ideology.

“The Board cannot assert both that the performance promotes an ideology and that it is not expressive conduct,” she said. “The board disagrees with the messages expressed and finds them offensive, but they are conveyed through speech and expressive conduct under the First Amendment.”

She rejected the argument that only parts of Draggieland are protected, stating the performance must be treated as a whole like any other form of artistic expression.

Concerning the board’s stance that its resolution was targeting “demeaning” conduct, Rosenthal ruled that the school’s argument is “faulty in logic” and contrary to longstanding First Amendment jurisprudence.

“When do performances in which men dress as women cross the line from entertaining to demeaning?” she asked. “The impossibility of objectively answering that question demonstrates why such standards are impermissible as the basis for a restriction on expressive conduct.”

She also dismissed the claim that drag shows are banned under Trump’s executive order and ruled that the boards ban on such performances contradicts its assertion that the resolution is viewpoint-neutral.

“Nothing in the Draggieland performance offends the executive order the Board cites. No male performer in the drag show is stating an intent to become a woman. Nor does the Board point to evidence in the record establishing that the president’s executive order on ‘biological truth’ specifically refers or applies to drag shows,” she said.

“The performers are just that: performers. They are acting. The performance is theater. It is not about individuals seeking to change their biological sex or claim a different biological sex. It is about actors who perform dressed differently than their biological sex.”

The Queer Empowerment Council said in a statement that they were “overjoyed” with the court’s decision.

“This is another display of the resilience of queer joy, as that is an unstoppable force despite those that wish to see it destroyed,” it said in a statement.

“While this fight isn’t over, we are going to appreciate the joy we get to bring by putting on the best show that we can do.”