Tennessee state police estimated that the crowd at Daily Wire host Matt Walsh’s “Rally To End Child Mutilation” drew up to 3,000 people in attendance, overwhelmingly supporting the cause.
Walsh urged a huge crowd to “walk in the truth” in the battle to end transgender treatments for minors at a raucous rally at the Tennessee State Capitol Friday.
Speakers including former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), trans man and star of Walsh’s “What is a Woman?” documentary Scott Newgent, Robby and Landon Starbuck, and de-transitioner Chloe Cole all spoke on the need to protect children from procedures that range from puberty blockers to mastectomies.
While mainstream news outlets attempted to downplay the size of the audience in attendance, saying the event brought in 1,500 “anti-transgender rights activists,” state authorities said otherwise.
“During the Matt Walsh rally on the Tennessee War Memorial Plaza in Nashville, TN, I monitored the event from atop the plaza. From this vantage point, I was able to monitor the crowd of people. The plaza appeared to be at near capacity. There was no official method in place to count the number of attendees, but I estimate the count to be somewhere around 2,500 to 3,000 people,” Lt. Bill Miller, public information officer for Tennessee Highway Patrol, told The Daily Wire.
Handfuls of protesters chanted throughout the speeches, yelling “F*** you, Fascists,” and other slogans.
Walsh told the crowd he was glad that the protesters showed up to provide a “contrast” against people who really care about children.
“They don’t want you to hear what we have to say because they’re cowards,” Walsh said. “They can’t engage in the argument. All they could try to do is shut us down and silence us. But it’s not going to work. We’re not going anywhere.”
Cole spoke of how she was born a girl, but began to “socially transition” at a young age. The 18-year-old said she had a double mastectomy and knows now that she will live the rest of her life with the effects of what pro-trans advocates insist are reversible procedures.
The Daily Wire asked a group of protestors what they thought about de-transitioners sharing personal testimonies regarding how they regret engaging in the so-called “gender-affirming care.”
“First of all, it’s a case-by-case thing,” one protestor said. “[Cole] speaking like this that no children should be transitioning when they should be in some case.”
When asked what kind of cases, the protestor shouted, “Google it and do your own research.”
Another protestor called the speakers and de-transitioners fascists for sharing their experiences.
“[Cole] is a fascist, and she doesn’t care about other trans youth,” the protestor told The Daily Wire. “She’s using her own experiences to s*** on thousands of others that want to kill themselves because people like this won’t let them.”
Walsh told the crowd the protesters’ anger proved the right side is winning.
“They will continue to lose so long as we continue to fight,” he said.
However, the majority of attendants came to show support for Walsh’s message.
Mike Munroe, 48, of Dayton, Tennessee, attended the rally with his wife and five children. He told The Daily Wire that he attended the event to show his children that he is “proactively for them.”
“They got to experience here that there are many good people — that humanity isn’t all crazy — that they’re not all out to hurt people,” Munroe said. “There’s good and bad, and they got to experience it.”
