Texas Christian University’s course called “The Queer Art of Drag,” meant to showcase the history of drag and teach students how to become drag queens, has been running since 2021.
The class is instructed by Dr. Nino Testa—who also holds pronoun trainings for discipleship teams—to create a drag vision board, have lip sync battles in class, and do a final drag performance in a showcase called “Night of Drag.”
In the curriculum is a worksheet where the students create their drag personas, including their poses, lip sync portfolio, and signature greeting.
The vision board is meant to help students plan out their performances and visualize their inspiration for the persona.
Students are also instructed to create a bibliography that includes 8-10 articles related to drag, covering topics such as styles, communities, performers, and politics.
Their lip sync battles are submitted in the form of a one-minute video. The students are encouraged, but not required, to dress up and wear makeup—but they are required to showcase choreography that includes gestures, poses, and facial expressions.
The course concludes with a final drag performance called “The Night of Drag,” where the students and their professor walk around dressed up in drag and videos are shown of each student performing in their personas. In one of these videos, “a drag king named Marshall Arts maneuvered through karate moves in a thirst-trap video.”
Texas Christian University is governed by a board of trustees, which includes State Rep. Charlie Geren (R–Fort Worth).
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