Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has appealed a federal judge’s ruling blocking Texas A&M University from enforcing a Trump administration-inspired ban on campus drag shows.  As he should.

     U.S. District Senior Judge Lee H. Rosenthal of the Southern District of Texas granted an injunction allowing the Queer Empowerment Council, a student LGBTQ group at the public university system’s flagship College Station campus, to proceed with its sixth annual “Draggieland” performance last Thursday.  A lawsuit from the students led Judge Rosenthal, a George H.W. Bush appointee, to rule on March 25 that the A&M Board of Regents’ use of President Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order on gender ideology to ban the show unconstitutionally limited free speech.

     In the appeal filed, Mr. Paxton asked the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse that ruling and allow A&M officials to enforce the ban while the lawsuit continues. He cited two other Texas cases as precedent.  “President Trump’s executive order stopping federal funds from being used to promote gender ideology was crystal clear, and the Board’s ban on obscene drag shows is in lawful accordance with that order,” said Mr. Paxton, a Republican. “The Constitution does not require Texas’ colleges and universities to promote offensive, degrading, and lewd behavior on their campuses.”

      He added that the appeal seeks “to ensure that our educational institutions are focused solely on promoting academics, not a woke agenda, while this case continues.”  In an email, a Texas A&M spokesperson declined to comment on the appeal.  The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a Philadelphia free speech group representing the Queer Empowerment Council in court, challenged Mr. Paxton’s interpretation of the law.