Over two weeks ago, ETSU’s Turning Point USA organization sent out an email to the student body inviting the community to attend a showing of “What Is A Woman?.”
The screening is set to take place on Sept. 29, starting at 6:30 p.m. in The Cave inside the D.P. Culp Student Center.
Students and organizations have taken to social media to voice their opinions and concerns on the screening being shown on campus.
The film features Matt Walsh, a right-wing political commentator and columnist for “The Daily Wire.”
IMDb describes the film as exploring “the changing concepts of sex and gender in the digital age, particularly the transgender rights movement, transphobia, and what it means to be a woman.”
Turning Point members did not expect the initial response and backlash they received both online and in person, according to their vice president, Lakie Derrick.
“We have really big plans for this entire semester, and we had a very successful first event,” said Derrick. “And moving on to this event it was easy because the movie was already made. We just thought it was going to be a chill fun movie night and for an organization to come together and just have fun.”
Due to the response, both positive and negative, Turning Point was asked to move their screening from Culp Room 219 to The Cave for more space and safety concerns.
Turning Point USA at ETSU made a statement after many comments were shared to YikYak following the screening announcement. YikYak is an anonymous posting app that includes posts centered around a specific geographic location. These comments alluded to “raising hell” at the screening, as well as protesting the event altogether.
“On the anonymous social media app, YikYak, someone posing as a TPUSA at ETSU member posted content that we completely denounce,” said their statement shared to Instagram. “These comments do not in any way reflect the views, values, nor beliefs of Turning Point USA and our executive board. We completely denounce threats and calls for violence against all groups of people.”
This statement prompted other organizations such as the ETSU College Democrats and Young Democratic Socialists (YDSA) of America to come forward and make statements as well.
“This film and the hateful views expressed in it do not adhere to ETSU’s policies that people come first, are treated with dignity and respect, and encouraged to achieve their full potential, and that diversity of people and thought is respected,“ explained a post by the ETSU College Democrats.
The event spurred action on campus, including two organizations planning forms of protest or counter-protest.
YDSA will be hosting a trans rights protest on Sept. 29 at 6 p.m., starting around the same time as the film showing. The protest will have a question-based open forum centered around issues in the transgender community. YDSA invited groups such as the Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) and UKirk to participate in the protest.
“I won’t allow hate speech to be spread,” David Silveira Ramirez, a chair for YDSA, said. “That’s really why we’re protesting, because hate speech shouldn’t be allowed on ETSU’s campus in any form. It’s not conducive to a good campus experience; it doesn’t do anything productive.”
Additionally, the College Democrats will be counter-protesting by participating in a sit-in during the film. Students participating in the sit-in will stand up and turn their chair around once the film starts and silently protest the showing. Any disruption of the film will result in being kicked out, according to Turning Point members.
“We are telling all of our members, and anyone who is interested in attending that it will be completely silent, and that we will not tolerate anyone disrupting Turning Points’s showing,” Levi Jones said, president of the College Democrats. “Because at the end of the day, they have every right to show this film just like we have every right to silently protest.”
Turning Point accepts other organization’s rights to peacefully protest, but will not tolerate interruption to their event.
“I will make this clear, we believe in the First Amendment; we believe in the right to peacefully protest,” said Rachel Harrington, president of Turning Point. “What we don’t believe in the right to do is interrupt or disrupt our event, which is not protected by the First Amendment. They can do whatever they want in terms of protesting as long as it’s peaceful and not disruptive. However, you know. Obviously, if they violate that, then they may be asked to leave.”
The sequence of these events comes directly after ETSU was forced to remove references to Title IX laws that protect LGBTQ+ students, as recommended by Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, in a letter sent out to all public state universities.
