Without comment, the Supreme Court undermined the First Amendment by refusing to hear a case brought by an LGBTQ student group at a public university in Texas. The university president blocked the students from holding a drag show to raise money for suicide prevention, and a federal district judge backed the president. (The New York Times, March 16, 2024, by Adam Liptak)
In criticizing the Supreme Court’s decision, Iam Millhiser of Vox, March 15, 2024, wrote “Even if Wendler [the university president] were correct that a theater performance that lampoons female gender norms is inherently sexist, the First Amendment still protects sexist speech. In fact, it protects nearly all speech that is offensive, obnoxious, or even hateful. Hence the Supreme Court’s 2011 decision that members of a notoriously anti-gay church could stand outside a fallen Marine’s funeral holding signs with messages like “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.”