Opposing DRAGgieland: A Spiritual Battle for the Soul of Texas A&M
While TFP volunteers prayed the holy rosary, pro-homosexual students played the satanic song “Montero” by Lil Nas X.
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Texas A&M University has long held a reputation of being a conservative college. It is a public land-grant research university established initially as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. Fitting for Texas, it has one of the largest campuses in the United States and boasts the second-largest student body. Of the six senior military colleges that offer ROTC courses, it is the largest in the nation. Indeed, many who hear the name A&M would immediately associate it with its sharply dressed corps of cadets.
Its history is filled with unique traditions and outstanding achievements. Countless students were formed to live according to its core values of Respect, Integrity, and Excellence. From 2012 to 2015, A&M was ranked the #1 college for conservatives to attend by the Princeton Review. However, in 2020, the university did not even make the top 20.
Dragging Down A&M
On the evening of April 18, a group of students gathered near the Rudder Tower plaza on A&M’s campus, waving light blue and pink “transgender pride flags” and shouting, “We’re here! We’re queer! We’re fabulous, don’t f— with us!” On the opposite side of the Rudder Tower, some thirty Catholics carrying a statue of Our Lady of Fatima prayed the rosary and belted out hymns. Volunteers with Tradition, Family, and Property — Texas, joined students and alumni to oppose an immoral event called “DRAGgieland” being held at Rudder tower that evening. In addition to the rally, TFP Student Action gathered over 19,000 signatures to cancel the event.
“DRAGgieland” is a play on words which mixes the beloved nickname of A&M (Aggieland) with the perverted cross-dressing expression “drag.” Concerned students contacted members of TFP—Texas to help organize a rosary rally in protest of the drag show event, since it is incompatible with A&M’s core values of Respect, Integrity and Excellence.
A TFP handout at the rosary rally stated:
“The decorum required for higher education is not upheld with the dress and actions of the event. The show encourages the objectification and sexualization of women on the Texas A&M campus, as well as attacks the dignity of men and women.
“DRAGgieland is pushed by the LGBT movement to normalize homosexual sin and its bisexual and transgender variants. As such, it is an attack on right reason, the natural moral law, divine positive law and undermines the institution of the family, the bedrock of society.
“Motivated by our love of God, family, and country, we publicly repudiate, peacefully and legally, the immoral DRAGgieland drag show. May God, through Our Lady, accept our public act of reparation.”
The Battalion, the college paper, quoted Student Center special event executive Clarissa Carrasco as saying, “promoting diversity and inclusion on campus was the (event’s) biggest goal.”
“As a programming committee through the MSC, we’re trying to push diversity through programs,” Carrasco said. “DRAGgieland is a great example. We are able to provide a platform for the LGBTQ+ community.”
Taking a Principled Stand with Public Prayer
As a beautiful statue of Our Lady of Fatima arrived to the hymn “Immaculate Mary” played on the bagpipes, many students stopped to take pictures and ask what was happening. One student from Georgia was shocked to hear about the drag show, and though he wasn’t Catholic, he gave his full support. Even those in cars driving by stopped to listen to the bagpipes and voice their opposition against the immoral event.
TFP volunteer Cesar Franco addressed the prayer warriors, saying, “In The Secret of the Rosary, St. Louis de Montfort tells us that public prayer is far more powerful than private prayer to appease the anger of God and call down His Mercy. In opposing DRAGgieland, we are not motivated by personal hatred of any individual. We are taking a principled stand against public sin which scandalizes the student body and leads souls towards perdition.”
Rally participants held two banners, which explained the issue to the public. “Moral Values are Texas Values. Stop Immoral Draggieland Drag Show” and “Stop the Ravages of Transgender Ideology.”
Other signs stated, “Drags need prayers, not public platforms” and “God created them male and female.”
During the rosary, five students approached the campaign and began to play loud rap music. Two of the students appeared to have upside-down crosses drawn on their foreheads in ink, and one held a sign that read, “Discount Drag Queen Tickets.”
They laughed and posed to take photos of themselves with the rally but refused to engage in serious discussion.
This minor confrontation (truly a micro-aggression!) only energized those reciting the rosary to pray with greater resolution. The volunteer leading the rosary would periodically cry slogans such as,
“Aggies, why are you here?”
“To defend the dignity of men and women against Draggieland!” came the reply.
“Perversity…”
“…is not diversity!”
“Moral degradation…”
“…will bring about the downfall of our nation!”
Students waving transgender flags on the opposite side of the building left their plaza and marched towards the rosary rally. Seeing the students advance with unclear intentions, several campaign participants stepped forward to form a protective wall on both sides of the statue.
However, just as the pink and blue group reached the crosswalk, they made an immediate right turn. They continued around the block shouting and waving their flags. When they reappeared shouting slogans and insults, the sound of the TFP bagpipes drowned them out. Aggie Catholics solemnly chanted the beautiful Salve Regina in Latin and moved in procession to escort the statue of Our Lady of Fatima off the street.
With the official close of the rosary rally, a palpable atmosphere of joy and enthusiasm radiated from the group. Lively conversations erupted.
What Was Accomplished
What did the rosary rally accomplish?
“We exercised our liberty as children of God and our constitutional rights to free speech in a candid, unapologetic, and unashamed display of our Catholic faith,” explained TFP volunteer John Paul Tomba.
“I like to repeat the words of Pope Saint Felix III, ‘Not to oppose error is to approve it; and not to defend truth is to suppress it.’ So, although the immoral event wasn’t canceled, we opposed the lies of the transgender revolution and stood up for the truth,” said Tomba. “The future does not belong to those who hate God, but to those who love Him and follow His Commandments.”
This article was first published by TFP-Louisiana.