When students at West Texas A&M decided to put on a drag show — because that’s what everybody seems to be doing these days — President Walter Wendler promptly put a stop to it. And Wendler’s primary reason for doing so is one of the most compelling arguments against the left’s sudden, all-consuming obsession with drag.
The drag show was set for March 31, and proceeds from the performance were going to benefit the Trevor Project, which Wendler describes on his own website as a “nonprofit organization focuses on suicide prevention—a noble cause—in the LGBTQ community. Any person considering self-harm for any reason is tragic.”
Wendler’s blog post, which the New York Post reports also went out to West Texas A&M faculty, staff, and students as an email, cites the Bible, the laws of physics, and the founding fathers in his thoughtful explanation for canceling the drag-show fundraiser.
“Does a drag show preserve a single thread of human dignity? I think not,” he wrote. “As a performance exaggerating aspects of womanhood (sexuality, femininity, gender), drag shows stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood. Any event which diminishes an individual or group through such representation is wrong.”
Wendler went on to remind his readers that demeaning women is as wrong as demeaning people based on their race or ethnicity.
“I registered a similar concern on campus when individuals debased Latinas regarding a quinceañera celebration,” he continued. “Should I let rest misogynistic behavior portraying women as objects? While I am not a woman, my best friend I have been married to for over a half-century is. I am also blessed to have daughters-in-law and granddaughters. Demeaning any demeans all. This is not an intellectual abstraction but a stark reality.”
I don’t like this, and will discuss with Wes Moore