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By Mandy Taheri
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Turning Point USA (TPUSA) canceled an event scheduled at the University of Washington (UW) after detransition activist and speaker Chloe Cole allegedly received threats in the days leading up to her appearance and following the death of a transgender student on Sunday.
Cole told Newsweek in an email, "I received over 200 explicit calls for violence from various groups and some individuals against me and the UW chapter."
She had previously told Fox News, "There were local Antifa groups that were actually scheduling these large-scale protests, and there were so many people who I saw online, just out in the open, who were saying things like, 'I hope you get Kirked.’” The phrase is in reference to TPUSA’s former leader, Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University last fall.
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Cole has pledged to reschedule the event, telling Newsweek, "I am personally determined to speak on that campus." She said she is still in active discussions about the rescheduling details.
Newsweek reached out to TPUSA and the Seattle Police Department for comment via email.
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Why It Matters
The cancellation highlights growing tensions on college campuses over free speech, political activism, and protests and comes amid heightened security concerns and political violence fears, with repeated threats against public figures and speakers. Last month, a gunman disrupted the White House Correspondents' Dinner in an assassination attempt targeting President Donald Trump.
It comes as debates over gender-affirming care and transgender athletes remain at the forefront of national politics, matters on which Trump has issued executive orders.
What To Know
Cole was set to speak on UW's campus Wednesday as part of TPUSA’s "Pick Up the Mic" initiative, which the conservative organization says is an example of “free speech in action” and “carries Charlie’s legacy forward by elevating chapter events each semester that emphasize open dialogue, interactive Q&A, and Prove Me Wrong style tabling to the center of campus.”
Kirk was shot and killed during an outdoor campus event in September.
Cole said in a statement to Newsweek, "In the same sentence they ['leftist students'] call for the same thing that happened to Charlie Kirk to happen to me. The fundamental difference between my ideology and theirs is that they value human life based on what an individual human life represents politically and socially. I also think these leftists, in a way assign value to the murderer—negative value if he murdered a trans identified individual, positive value if he decided to murder me."
On Tuesday, Cole posted a video on X explaining why the event was canceled, saying, “Antifa has assembled a local ‘militia,’ in their own words, to shut down this event.”
She continued, “their actions, their explicit threats on my life, have raised this event to national attention.”
Victor Balta, a university spokesperson, told Newsweek that TPUSA canceled the event, writing in an email, "The national TPUSA organization made the decision to cancel the event Wednesday. I know that some groups were organizing protests related to the event, but I am not aware of any threats being made directly or any threats reported to the university."
What To Know About UW Transgender Student Murdered
- Authorities said the murder of a 19-year-old transgender woman on Sunday in an off-campus apartment remains under active investigation, and no arrests have been made. She was found dead in the laundry room of the Nordheim Court complex.
- A suspect is now in custody with the Bellevue Police Department after turning himself in, KOMO News reported.
- The 19‑year‑old is now the seventh known transgender person killed in the U.S. this year, according to LGBTQ+ advocates tracking nationwide violence. Her death comes amid a string of killings involving transgender people in 2026, including the fatal shooting of New Mexico farmer Luca RedBeard, and the death of a 29‑year‑old in Marion County, Florida. A transgender Northern Kentucky University student, 22-year-old Murry Foust, remains missing after last being seen heading to class in late April.
- Cole told Newsweek, "The murder of the UW student is tragic and it is tragic regardless of how he identifies. The leftist students in The UW area are attempting to pin the murder on me, claiming my rhetoric drove this man to murder...I think murder is evil regardless of the murderer's or victim's values, and I intrinsically value human life."
- TPUSA said in a statement regarding the student’s killing, "The University of Washington chapter of Turning Point USA condemns this horrific act of violence in the strongest possible terms. No one should ever be subjected to such senseless brutality. Our thoughts and condolences are with the victim’s family and friends. In light of this tragedy and by an overwhelming surge of violent threats directed at our chapter, threats that appear deliberately designed to falsely associate our peaceful event with the murder, we have made the difficult decision to postpone our upcoming event with Chloe Cole. TPUSA at UW is not leaving campus. We remain fully committed to promoting free speech, open dialogue, and intellectual diversity at the University of Washington. We look forward to rescheduling this important conversation at the earliest appropriate time."
Who Is Chloe Cole?
Cole is a 21-year-old advocate against transgender care from California. She transitioned from female to male between the ages of 12 and 16 and then later detransitioned, and has been outspoken that children should not be able to get the type of care she got.
She has said that her doctors didn’t share all the risks and the impact of the care she received, and noted that children are not aware of the gravity of their decisions at times.
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She told Fox News in December, "There was nothing they could say to me that would make me understand the gravity of what I was about to go through, because I was still growing up. I had very little experience in the world, and I simply would not be mature enough to be equipped to undergo such a life-changing procedure in every way."
She was slated to speak about the matter at UW. In her video posted on X, she said, “Truth will always win. Christ will always prevail. God created each and every single one of us in his image, and there were only two sexes. That is the exact message I was going to take to the University of Washington tomorrow.”
What Is Antifa?
Antifa, which is short for "anti-fascist," is not a formal organization but rather a group of loosely affiliated people with no central leadership who say they are resisting those they deem fascist or white supremacist.
The ideologies of antifa adherents are based on various left-wing causes, including communism, anarchism and socialism, while many also support environmentalism, the rights of indigenous populations and LGBTQ+ rights.
People identifying with antifa movements have been involved in several high-profile protests and clashes in recent years, including demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, unrest in Portland, Oregon, after George Floyd’s killing, and confrontations tied to conservative campus speakers in Berkeley, California.
In September, days after Kirk's assassination, Trump posted on Truth Social, "I am pleased to inform our many U.S.A. Patriots that I am designating ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices."
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