Plans by the Gender and Sexuality Alliance club at St. Thomas Aquinas College in New York state to hold a show featuring drag queens and kings earlier this week were nixed by the school's administration,
USA Today reported.
"The question came to me — what would I think of a drag show on campus?" President Margaret Mary Fitzpatrick told the
Journal News. She wondered how a show with men and women dressed as the opposite sex and emceed by a hired drag queen from New York City would fit into the Catholic principle of "the dignity of the human person."
The show, scheduled for Friday, was funded by the Student Government Association pending routine approval by the administration.
"I thought there could be unintended consequences from a drag show," Fitzpatrick told USA Today. "I was nervous about it."
The president said that she preferred holding an educational program which put drag shows in the context of gay, bisexual, and transgender culture. She explained her stance in a
letter about the controversy to the campus community.
Robert Trawick, who teaches philosophy and religious studies, said, "We have openly gay students, we have openly gay faculty. For the majority of students, on LGBT issues, it's just not controversial to them."
He added, "I hope that we can find a way to express our Catholic heritage that is respectful of its traditions and at the same time open to free inquiry. I believe that best represents the tradition of Thomas Aquinas," USA Today reported.
College junior Arianna Sotos was among a number of students who described the campus as welcoming and inclusive, USA Today reported.
Some students, faculty, and alumni signed an online petition against the administration's decision.
St. Thomas Aquinas College is a
private liberal arts school of about 1,800 undergraduates. It was established in Rockland County, New York, by the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill in 1952.
Aside from its name, there is no specific reference to the college's Christian heritage on its website. The school is not restricted to those of the Catholic faith.
Fitzpatrick described the college's mission as in harmony with foundational Catholic values.
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