Standing in front of a church auditorium of attentive listeners, activist Chloe Cole delivered the resounding message that as a Christian and a conservative, she’s not backing down.
“It may not be on campus, but the show must go on,” Cole said.
Cole, 21, spoke about what she sees as the danger of gender-affirming care for children during a Tuesday night event at Birchman Baptist Church. Cole built a national platform speaking at events across the United States about her experience as a teenager who identified as a transgender male before “detransitioning” to a woman, which she identifies as today.
Organizers initially planned to host the event on Texas Christian University’s campus with the college’s Turning Point USA chapter. After they were unable to secure their desired event space at TCU, the far west Fort Worth church, which is known for hosting political events, stepped in to serve as the venue.
During her opening remarks, Cole slammed TCU for what she believes was an attempt to silence her due to her political viewpoints.
“We are in the midst of a violent political culture right now, and universities have had a unique responsibility to quell this, to keep the conversation going, to uphold American values,” Cole told the crowd. “And especially a historically Christian institution like TCU has a responsibility to protect believers as a Christian university — they should be ashamed of themselves for not standing up.”
Last week, TCU leadership said they never canceled Cole’s event reservation, because the event was never booked.
In a statement Tuesday evening, TCU spokesperson Greg Staley reiterated that the university did not “cancel or unfairly burden” Cole’s or the Turning Point chapter’s views. The statement highlighted that 849 religious events were held on campus in the last 14 months.
“Conservative and faith-based student organizations face no additional obstacles to hosting events on campus, including Charlie Kirk’s invitation to speak two years ago on campus, as well as the memorial service honoring his life we held on September 18 of this year,” the statement read. “TCU regularly and successfully welcomes Christian and faith-based events and speakers.”
Social media posts reflecting Cole’s characterization of what transpired regarding the event reservation last week prompted elected leaders across Texas to weigh in. Attorney General Ken Paxton posted on X that he intended to “look into” the incident.
Annie Cellar, president of TCU’s Turning Point chapter, said in an interview Tuesday morning that the event was never officially booked, and that TCU did not cancel it. She does not believe anyone was to blame for the controversy, which she said was the result of people commenting online without being aware of the whole story.
Cellar said she does not believe Paxton needs to investigate the issue, but controversy over the event has led to more attention to what she described as policies “that don’t fully represent or advocate for Christian beliefs.”
“I think this is a bigger picture than just this Chloe Cole event, but this is just opening the door for us to see what else can be looked into and fixed here at the school and in policies,” she said.
She said she hoped the event would help push for “more conservative, pro-America, pro-freedom values.” But it was about more than just politics, she added.
“At the end of the day, my goal with it is just to help more people to get to know the truth, and if I can lead as many people in the direction of knowing Jesus, that’s all I could ask for,” Cellar said. “And that’s what Charlie would have wanted as well.”
A Fort Worth Police Department officer at the event estimated attendance at about 400 people. The crowd included TCU students, Turning Point members, Birchman Baptist churchgoers and local politicians, including Texas House Rep. Nate Schatzline, a Fort Worth Republican who serves as a pastor at the Christian megachurch Mercy Culture, and Bo French, chair of the Tarrant County Republican Party.
Cellar said membership in the TCU chapter grew by hundreds of students after the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, a conservative podcaster who founded the national youth organization Turning Point USA. Cellar said she does not believe the controversy surrounding the event has negatively impacted the chapter.
“People are still so curious and interested,” Cellar said. “I just think it’s been blown out of proportion online a bit.”
Michael Rizzo, senior business student at TCU, has been involved in the university’s chapter since his freshman year and volunteered at the event. He said he really liked the event but wished more students had attended.
“I’m grateful that a lot of the community came out to support it,” he said. “I would have wished to see more college students, although I understand that we’re 15 minutes away from the closest college, which is TCU, on a Tuesday night right before fall break.”
The church’s pews were mostly filled by an older audience.
Attendee Miles Seaborn III, 73, described himself as an “almost lifelong” member of Birchman Baptist Church. His father led the church for 29 years before handing the reins to Senior Pastor Robert Pearle.
Seaborn said he believed his father, who integrated relevant and often political issues into ministry, would have thought the event was great.
“We take a stand on scripture, and that’s my dad’s influence initially, is that we believe the Bible is the inherent word of God, and everything is viewed through the lens of scripture here.”
Married couple Mitzi Gault, 71, and Jim Gault, 73, have attended Birchman Baptist Church for more than 40 years.
They said they’re glad their church was willing to step in to host the event and doesn’t shy away from politics like some churches. It’s important to take a stand publicly, not just privately, Mitzi Gault said.
“I’ve recently come to believe if our lives don’t show Christ, then there’s no point in us being here,” she said.
After listening to Cole share her experience of “getting caught up in the crosshairs of transgender ideology” at a young age, the couple said they felt called to take a more active role in protecting their grandchildren from such concepts.
After acknowledging that attempting to book the event on TCU’s campus was “incredibly frustrating,” Cole said publicity about the controversy helped raise awareness of the event along with what she sees as discriminatory policies on the university campus.
“Those of us who are believers, we all know that even in our most frustrating moments, God used it all for good, and there are so many more positives that have come out of this,” Cole said.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
McKinnon Rice is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org.
The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
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