South Dakota's performative culture warriors had the fantods at Thursday's South Dakota State University Board of Regents meeting. The object of their fury? A November 16 drag show at the campus in Brookings, sponsored by the Gender & Sexualities Alliance.
And one state senator promises action!
At the Argus Leader, Morgan Matzen reports in Senator signals she will propose to ban drag shows in South Dakota next year:
A state senator in South Dakota signaled Thursday during a Board of Regents meeting that she is going to draft a bill to attempt to outlaw drag shows after a student organization hosted one at South Dakota State University last month. . . .
Republican Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller and multiple other people spoke during the Board of Regents meeting Thursday in Rapid City to express negative views of the event at SDSU. Frye-Mueller announced she would be bringing a bill in the next legislative session targeted at drag shows.
No bill has been drafted or filed yet, and it's unclear from her announcement at the public meeting exactly from what locations she planned to propose drag shows be outlawed, whether it's possible a college campus or elsewhere. . . .
Read the intricacies of the outrage at the Argus Leader. Bluestem agrees with the opinion at the article's close:
Libby Skarin, campaigns director for the ACLU of South Dakota, tweeted Thursday that the government can’t ban forms on-campus or public speech like drag shows.
“The First Amendment applies to drag shows, period,” Skarin tweeted. “State legislators need to stop wasting everyone’s time with blatantly unconstitutional bills.”
At the South Dakota Searchlight, Seth Tupper reports in Critics berate regents about drag show, and senator pledges to bring legislation:
After the leader of the state’s university system announced “process improvements” in response to controversy about a recent drag show, critics denounced the handling of the show and a state senator pledged legislation to address it.
The show took place Nov. 16 at South Dakota State University in Brookings. Some commenters on social media praised the show, while others criticized the university for allowing it and criticized advertising that described the show as “kid friendly.”
Brian Maher, executive director of the Board of Regents, addressed the controversy Thursday during a board meeting at South Dakota Mines in Rapid City. He said his comments were meant to address “numerous calls and many conversations.”
“The first point to make is that we follow state law and we do not – cannot – discriminate against student organizations based on the content or viewpoint of their expressive activity,” Maher said. “Access to and use of facilities on our campuses is equally available to all.”
Maher acknowledged “miscommunication and angst around how this event was marketed.” It should be clear when an event is sponsored by a student organization rather than the university itself, he said. The drag show was sponsored by the student-run Gender & Sexualities Alliance.
“New protocol will make it clear when an event is being put on by a student organization in accordance with state law,” Maher said, “and when an event is being sponsored and put on by the university. That is a significant distinction that didn’t happen during this event.”
Later, during the public comment portion of Thursday’s meeting, numerous speakers criticized the drag show, drawing applause from a crowd of dozens behind them. Some pressed the board to support policy or law changes that would disallow future drag shows on university campuses.
One of the speakers, state Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller, R-Rapid City, said “we do have plans to bring some bills before the Legislature this year to address this kind of thing.”
“This is absolutely sick, especially when families bring children,” Frye-Mueller said.
No one associated with the drag show or SDSU addressed the board about the show. Board President Pam Roberts eventually ended the public comment period, and the board moved on to other agenda items without any discussion or action on the drag show.
For a look at genuine higher education issues facing the South Dakota legislature, Bluestem recommends checking out Matzen's Friday article, Noem's proposed budget includes free college for National Guard, but no tuition freeze.
Perhaps the South Dakota legislature should turn its attention to reconciling the differences in Noem's and the BOR's budget requests.
Photo: State legislators think show is not appropriate for an on-campus event, but performer Devondra Shakers explains that dress code, music, interactions are all kid-friendly, as advertised. Provided to MSN as SDSU drag show organizers and performers explain their “kid-friendly” show by Sioux Falls (Mitchell) KSFY.
The South Dakota Searchlight article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
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