Over 13,000 individuals have signed a petition on Tradition, Family, Property Student Action’s (TFP) website addressing Alan Miciak, president of John Carroll University, and requesting that the university prohibit the Allies student organization— along with the Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies, Peace, Justice, & Human Rights, Political Science, and Sociology & Criminology departments— from hosting the event “Gender as Power and Performance” on April 5, 2024.

This program is a revival of drag shows at John Carroll as there has not been on campus since 2019. Now, five years later, it seems history may be repeating itself. This event features a Q&A panel with professors Shawn Burton, Joe Krivos, Malia McAndrew and Dianna Taylor in addition to a drag show. According to the petition, however, the event contradicts Catholicism and JCU’s Jesuit Catholic mission and identity.

“TFP Student Action promotes moral values on college campuses nationwide and is a campaign of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP),” John Ritchie, the Student Action Director of TFP, told The Carroll News that “Students and families connected to John Carroll University asked us to help them oppose the immoral drag show. So we did, in the form of a petition, urging the university to cancel the event.”

Ritchie says the drag show is a “vulgar display of lust” and how lust is one of the deadly sins. He states that “noble institutions of higher learning should elevate the soul and inspire us to love truth, beauty and goodness, but never degrade students with hypersexualized and immoral shows.”

This petition underscores how highly politicized issues like gender and sexuality have become in America and the difficulties institutions are facing in hosting academically-focused events on such controversial topics.

The originator of the petition claims to be a relative of a student at the Borromeo Seminary of the Cleveland Diocese, however, the Diocese did not respond to a request for comment regarding the reference to a seminarian in the petition. Instead, their statement acknowledges that the “program is academic in nature and features four JCU faculty speaking on several interrelated topics, which include the various understandings of gender in both history and the social sciences, along with some of the ways the university can support LGBTQ wellness and mental health.”

JCU issued a statement on the event and the petition on April 4 to The Carroll News which said, “Our university is a place where students should encounter the range of differences that reflect the world in which we live. We are a place that should discuss difficult or controversial topics in a rational and civil manner. Dialogue and increased understanding is part of the formation experience for our student body,” and “‘Gender as Power & Performance’ is first and foremost an academic event – initiated by students and supported by faculty – oriented toward such mutual learning.”

Fr. James Bretzke, S.J., told The Carroll News that “Having an academic discussion of gender simply cannot be equated with ‘promoting unnatural behavior’… I find [the petition’s] accusation to be false and defamatory. The Catechism of the Catholic Church condemns such discourse as violations against both truth and charity.”

Erin Waner ‘27, president of JCU’s Allies Club, said, “We’re disappointed that there are members of the Carroll community who are strongly opposed to the event…however, both the event and the Allies club have the support of the administration and many faculty, staff, students and alumni. We will not let this dissuade us from our goal of ensuring that everyone in the queer community is safe, accepted and free to express themselves both on and off campus.”

Taylor, a professor of philosophy on the panel, said, “It is not surprising that an event which brings [gender and sexuality] into conversation has raised some controversy, especially since the petition was picked up by a highly organized national organization.”

“I believe indeed there is corruption involved here, but the corruption is located in the approach of the TFP organization,” Bretzke said, “The term ‘drag show’ has a fairly commonly understood meaning in contemporary society and whatever is scheduled for April 5 is certainly NOT in that genre.”

As of April 4, “The university has confirmed that the panel, Q&A and drag performances will go ahead as scheduled,” and “Neither the Allies board nor the club itself have faced any significant backlash or harassment,” said Waner.

However, Ritchie states that he hopes the petition will halt the event, stating “I’m sure the TFP petition to stop the drag show is pleasing to God. And what’s pleasing to God is always successful.”

Regarding safety concerns, Jeffrey Daberko, chief of the JCU Police Department, told The Carroll News that “JCUPD is fully aware of the event and will provide appropriate coverage to ensure the safety of all participants and attendees and compliance with relevant university policies.”