Matt Walsh told a rapt crowd of Washington, D.C., college students Tuesday night the battle against radical gender theory will be won by brave people asking simple questions.
The Daily Wire podcast host spoke at Catholic University in the first appearance of a tour promoting his groundbreaking documentary, “What is a Woman?” Although critics had earlier sought to cancel, or at least disrupt the event, the hour-long speech and Q&A session went off without a hitch before a packed house that prompted sponsor Young America’s Foundation to scramble to bring in extra chairs.
“We can win, because the other side can be crushed under the weight of simple questions,” Walsh said, citing his experience in making “What is a Woman?”
The crowd is lined up & ready to see @MattWalshBlog tonight at Catholic University @yaf @catholicuyaf pic.twitter.com/WMHATqQTCG
— Patrick X Coyle (@PatrickXCoyle) October 4, 2022
He recounted how the very question that served as the documentary’s title, as well as other seemingly simply queries left professors, doctors, and other radical gender theory advocates flummoxed.
“All we have to do is just stand up, look this thing directly in its face, and ask it questions. Serve it a healthy dose of skepticism. Force it to explain itself. It has to explain itself. The burden of proof is on it. The person who comes promoting gender ideology, they have to explain themselves.”
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Forcing radical gender theory proponents to defend often ludicrous positions instead of going on the defensive is the key, he said.
“They always want to flip it around,” said Walsh, who spoke for just over 20 minutes before taking questions. “They say, ‘What do you mean, men can’t have babies? Explain that.’
“No, no, no,” he continued. “I don’t need to explain that. I am in alignment with the entire history of the human race. You came along 15 seconds ago and said that, no, everybody who’s ever lived is wrong about this. Well, you know what? You need to explain that.”
Simple queries reveal the absurdity of the radical gender theorists’ positions, he said, citing a question he posed while making his film.
“I talked to a pediatrician who refused to even agree that only female chickens lay eggs, insisting that she cannot know the chicken’s gender identity,” he said.
One student asked Walsh how radical gender ideologists, who he said seemed “impervious to truth” and logic, could ever be convinced that there are simply two genders. Walsh said those people cannot be convinced “in the moment,” but forcing them to deny objective truths will “plant seeds in their mind” that may eventually bring them back to reality.
A Georgetown student asked Walsh how opponents of radical gender theory could protect kids from irreversible procedures while also respecting trans adults. Walsh replied that he generally supports treating people with dignity and respect regardless of their beliefs, but clarified that he would never affirm a trans person’s belief that they had changed their biological sex.
Fairfax County, Virginia mother of six Stacy Langton, who made headlines a year ago when she complained to the local school board about pornographic materials in her children’s school library, drew a standing ovation. Garbed in a “Mama Grizzly” T-shirt, she wondered if divine intervention was necessary to protect children from adults promoting radical gender theory.
The appearance happened despite a student group’s efforts to get Catholic University President Peter Kilpatrick to bar Walsh. Kilpatrick refused, replying in a thoughtful open letter that allowing a variety of speakers is a mark of a thriving learning environment.
“I believe that bringing in speakers that challenge us and push us to consider different perspectives is a hallmark of a thriving intellectual environment,” Kilpatrick wrote.
Members of the university’s chapter of YAF have said promotional posters were torn down ahead of the event.
According to the YAF’s Nick Bakker, one student placed a sign reading, “Trans Women are REAL WOMEN,” across the hall from the dorm room of Caitlin Brawley, a member of the YAF chapter’s board.
CUAllies, an LGBTQ+ group on campus, condemned the event. The school’s Black Student Alliance reportedly also shared the CUAllies statement, offering a safe space for students upset by the free event.