The Daily Wire’s Matt 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, trans man and star of Walsh’s “What is a Woman?” documentary Scott Newgent, Robbie and Landon Starbuck, and detransitioner Chloe Cole all spoke on the need to protect children from procedures that range from puberty blockers to mastectomies.
“Those in power are denying the existence of women, they are seeking to erase us as an entire category of people,” Gabbard, who recently left the Democratic Party in. part because of its woke beliefs, said to thunderous applause.
.@MattWalshBlog: “There is…a conspiracy to target and indoctrinate our children into the cult of gender ideology. [It] fosters delusion, intentionally creates an identity crisis in young, impressionable kids…It’s a path to confusion and despair.” pic.twitter.com/9AKC9Btlu5
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) October 21, 2022
Billed as the “Rally to End Child Mutilation,” the event was an outgrowth of Walsh’s campaign in what he called a “battle of good vs. evil.” A State Police source estimated the crowd at over 3,000, the overwhelming number of whom were supportive of the cause.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) recently sent a letter to the Federal Drug Administration calling for an investigation of the pharmaceutical companies conducting clinical trials using puberty blockers on children.
Blackburn has joined other Tennessee officials in calling for an investigation into Vanderbilt University Medical in the wake of Walsh’s reporting.
“It is just very sad that we would hear from medical professionals as they were putting profit in front of children,” Blackburn told The Daily Wire.
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 effect of what pro-trans advocates insist are reversible.
Landon Starbuck said conservatives have compassion for those with gender dysphoria. (The Daily Wire)
“Some say that transition regret is incredibly rare and almost always due to external factors such as social pressures or low income,” Cole told the crowd. “This could not be any more false. A new de-transitioner often a minor reaches out to me on nearly a daily basis.”
Landon Starbuck, who with her husband, producer Robbie Starbuck, is a critic of radical gender theory, said conservatives care about children who are confused about their gender, and thus want to protect them from life-altering decisions they are not prepared to make.
“We are so grateful to the survivors of radical gender ideology that devastates families, that decimates children’s bodies and does not protect them or give them the health care they need and deserve,” she said. “That is why we’re here today.”
Scott Newgent, the transgender man interviewed in The Daily Wire‘s groundbreaking documentary “What is a Woman?” said “it’s about time” society addressed the mutilation of children.
“Finally, ” Newgent told The Daily Wire. “Finally, we’re getting outside of the Twitter echo chamber. This whole issue is so polarized left and right — our society is left and right. And we’ve left a complete blind spot right in the middle. We’re mutilating a generation of children because we think it’s about human rights.”
“Finally, it’s about time,” he added.
Handfuls of protesters chanted throughout the speeches, yelling “F— You Fascists,” and other slogans.
Walsh told the crowd he was glad 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.”
Walsh told the crowd the anger of the protesters proved the right side is winning.
“They will continue to lose so long as we continue to fight,” he said.
