'Detransitioner' speaker comes to Purdue, faces protest

Stanley Coulter Hall was quiet. Chloe Cole, a controversial speaker who has led successful movements to end gender-affirming care for minors, was scheduled to speak.

A protester stood at the top of the steps to the building, pacing back and forth, their face hidden by a transgender flag covering their body, then walked down and placed small transgender flags in the soil outside the building.

Turning Point USA, a national conservative organization that Purdue’s chapter says is non-partisan, invited the 19-year-old Cole to campus to speak Thursday evening, despite protests from students and Lafayette residents outside the small lecture hall where the speaker used her story of “detransitioning” to advocate against gender-affirming care.

In recent months, Cole has been traveling around the country and recently made an appearance at Northwestern University in February.

The protesters, including members of the Purdue chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America and several local churches, outsized the number of attendees already there to hear Cole speak.

“Our organization especially believes that (transgender) people should be given the care they want, especially in terms of gender-affirming care,” said YDSA protester Ishan Tripathi, a senior in the college of engineering.

But despite the protest against her speech Thursday, Cole said that she really didn’t hate transgender people.

In fact, she said, she holds deep compassion for them.

Cole was transgender between 12 and 17, starting puberty blockers at 13 and having a double mastectomy at 15, an operation that removes all breast tissue from the breast.

But Cole said she later “detransitioned,” becoming a staunch advocate against gender-affirming care, speaking on conservative pundit Jordan Peterson’s podcast and even testified in the halls of Congress and in state legislatures across the country to help pass bills that target gender-affirming care for minors.

“I originally listened to her on (Jordan Peterson),” said Josh Johnson, a graduate student in family communication who attended Cole’s event. “He has a phenomenal podcast and interviewed her and… she’s incredible.”

During her speech, Cole said that she felt lonely around other girls and was a “tomboy” during her youth. She found a home in the transgender community and wanted to be like others and “triumph in transitioning.”

“Nobody ever said that adolescence was a total cakewalk. What I didn't understand then was that I was going to be okay,” Cole said. “But I stumbled upon a community on social media that convinced me otherwise.”

Cole attributed her choice to detransition to her desire to become a mother and wife at 17, already after she had her double mastectomy.

According to a Reuters report, “Cole began to realize she regretted her surgery and medically transitioning in general after a discussion in school about breastfeeding and pregnancy.”

TPUSA, the national nonprofit organization that invited Cole to the Thursday event, was founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk, a conservative political activist and radio host.

“Since its founding, Turning Point USA has embarked on a mission to build the most organized, active, and powerful conservative grassroots activist network on high school and college campuses across the country,” the group’s website says.
Though the national organization says it wants to build a “conservative grassroots activist network”, Turning Point USA at Purdue University claims on its Boilerlink page to be non-partisan.

“Turning Point USA’s mission is to educate students about the importance of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and capitalism through innovative campus activism and non-partisan, thought-provoking discussion,” the club's Boilerlink page says.
The protesters at Thursday’s event also included members of the Purdue Lutheran Ministry and the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, the Episcopal Church’s campus ministry.

“I want it to be clear that God loves (transgender) people, just as they are,” said Hilary Cooke, a chaplain at the Episcopal Church’s campus ministry at Purdue while holding a transgender flag in her hand. Cooke said she’s the mother of a transgender child. “I’m just here to be a silent witness of God’s love.”

After the event, protesters attempted to wave signs and chant slogans outside the room, even getting into verbal arguments with the police.

“What do we do when trans rights are under attack? Stand up, fight back,” they chanted.