Commentator Matt Walsh expected at UH event, sparking negative reaction from trans community

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A student organization at the University of Houston will be hosting a speaker deemed controversial, and it has not been met with a positive reaction.

If you walk around the University of Houston, you can see signs for all kinds of events and gatherings, but there's one attracting more attention than others.

"It's going to target us and create a firestorm of anti-trans hate on campus," Eden Rose Torres, founder of prideportraits.org, said.

On Thursday, the Young Conservatives of Texas, UH chapter will host Matt Walsh.

Walsh recently released a documentary titled "What is a Woman," looking at the gender ideology movement.

Trans activist Torres said it goes too far and attacks people like her.

"That is so core to my being," Torres explained. "There's no question about who I am or who any trans person is."

She's not the only concerned one. UH student Landon Richie is worried about Walsh targeting younger trans people.

"He is a proponent of trying to get this care moved for youth like me when I was 11," Richie said. "This lifesaving medical care."

The group responsible for bringing the commentator to campus says it welcomes the controversy.

"We want to stay relevant," Young Conservatives of Texas, UH chapter chairman Mikel Moore said. "We want to stay engaged. We want to provide content and events that people find informative."

Moore says bringing Walsh has not been easy. According to Moore, 100 fliers that were put up to advertise Walsh's appearance have vanished.

"Those are signs that we pay for," Moore said. "We partner with Young America's Foundation to ensure we host high-quality events so that we can get the word out on our events. We see this as an attack on our event and ability to get the word out on our event."

UH sent the following statement to ABC13 that reads:

"The speaker was invited to campus by a registered student organization and as stated in our Freedom of Expression policy, the University of Houston does not approve or deny expressive activity based on the content or viewpoint of the speaker."

"We felt this would be a great opportunity to expose students of the UH community as well as the general public to different issues facing the country, to new ideas," Moore explained.

"I think that University of Houston is making a catastrophic mistake," Torres said. "The repercussions of this event will go on for years."

While the event takes place, protestors said they plan to hold their event outside the student center at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.

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