When Drag Came to Notre Dame...

The Notre Dame Department of Film, Television, and Theatre co-sponsored a drag show on Friday, November 3rd at 7:30 PM alongside the Department of Music, the Department of American Studies, the Initiative on Race and Resilience, the Gender Studies Program, and the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts.

The Irish Rover first reported on this event on September 13th.

Editor-in-Chief Nico Schmitz followed up this report with an editorial, No Place for Drag at Our Lady’s University on October 11th, 2023.

On October 18th, this website was created by senior Jose Rodriguez to provide a platform for those in the Notre Dame family to express their concern for the event and urge administrators to rescind the drag ‘artists’ invitation and direct funds toward supporting authentic femininity and human dignity. The final stats are as follows:

158 students

493 alumni

519 parents and supporters

89 donors

5 staff or faculty members

1,264 total emails sent

On October 24th, seniors Madelyn Stout and Merlot Fogarty published a Letter to The Editor in the Notre Dame Observer speaking out against the drag show entitled: Did we regild her only to ridicule her?

News outlets across the country caught wind of the controversy: Fox News, Catholic News Agency, The American Spectator, The Federalist, The Daily Wire, LifeSite News, First Things, & EWTN.

On November 3, over 250 students, faculty, and community members gathered outside of the Debartolo Performing Arts Center to host a prayer rally and rosary procession to the log chapel where a holy hour was held throughout the time the event took place. Local media (ABC57, WNDU) covered the protest as well as the Observer, NDTV, and TFP.

Professor Pamela Wojcik, the FTT department chair who brought the drag show to Notre Dame, began her introduction of the event: “Welcome to Notre Dame’s first, and I’m betting last, drag show.”

To that, we say: praise God. Drag has no place under Our Lady’s golden dome. The prayerful presence of community members kneeling outside the performance was a sight to behold, and truly shows the dedication of Notre Dame students and alumni to truth and the dignity of the human person. Thank you to all who have supported this endeavor.