An angry mob of college students screaming “F*** you” and pounding on tables tried to shout down a speaker hosted by a conservative campus group at the University of North Texas in Denton.
The Wednesday night event, billed as “Criminalize Child Transitions,” was organized by the UNT chapter of Young Conservatives of Texas. The group says they are the only conservative organization at the school.
Their speaker was Jeff Younger, a Texas father who advocates for parental rights and against forcing dangerous drugs and life-altering “sex-change” surgeries onto children in the name of “gender transition.”
Younger’s ex-wife got custody of their son James after Jeff refused to go along with her plans to “transition” the young boy into a girl. He’s now running for a seat in the Texas Legislature to help save kids like James.
On Wednesday, Younger told his story to a classroom full of angry students, most dressed in black. They constantly shouted obscenities, heckled, screamed, and used noisemakers to try and drown him out.
“Your professors have misled you,” Younger shot back. “You’ve been mis-educated to think this is normal.”
Video of the event has since gone viral on social media, drawing responses from both sides of the debate over whether adults’ attempts to medically “transition” young children is “affirming” or abusive. Without seeming to recognize the irony, one pro-trans commenter used the hashtag #LeaveOurKidsAlone.
Younger spoke for close to an hour before being escorted out of the building by police.
Police presence was heavy in and around the event.
Protesters outside the building shouted “F*** Jeff Younger” and “F*** Kelly”—a reference to Kelly Neidert, a graduate student at UNT who previously headed the YCT group and has been a frequent target of leftist threats and online harassment.
After the event, Neidert tweeted:
A week after getting death threats & getting 17k signatures on a petition to expel me, I had an event where I had to be rushed out of the building for my safety. Antifa cut me off and I was forced to hide in a janitor closet with the lights off while antifa searched for me.
https://twitter.com/kelly_neidert/status/1499346754457772033?s=20&t=1utPIFajqjvI-4kR1wvyHA
A group calling itself Expel Kelly Neidert started a petition against Neidert and YCT when they got wind of Wednesday’s lecture by Younger.
The Texas Legislature passed a law in 2019 protecting free speech on public college campuses.
UNT President Neal Smatresk issued a statement Thursday saying that the “behavior by some individuals is not reflective of the UNT I know and love.”
We have always touted the importance of freedom of expression and been proud of our students’ ability to speak up for themselves and participate in nonviolent protest. UNT Police have continuously worked to create and maintain an environment safe for all students to express themselves, regardless of topic.
Neither Neidert nor Younger have any intention of being silenced.
Following the March 1 Republican primary election, Jeff Younger is now in a primary runoff with Ben Bumgarner to represent House District 63.
