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TCU\u2019s Turning Point USA chapter hosts activist Chloe Cole on Oct. 7, 2025, at Birchman Baptist Church in Fort Worth. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America)<\/p>\nStanding in front of a church auditorium of attentive listeners, activist Chloe Cole delivered the resounding message that as a Christian and a conservative, she\u2019s not backing down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may not be on campus, but the show must go on,\u201d Cole said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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 \u201cdetransitioning\u201d to a woman, which she identifies as today.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Organizers initially planned to host the event on Texas Christian University\u2019s campus with the college\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
TCU\u2019s Turning Point USA chapter hosts activist Chloe Cole on Oct. 7, 2025, at Birchman Baptist Church in Fort Worth. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America)<\/p>\n
During her opening remarks, Cole slammed TCU for what she believes was an attempt to silence her due to her political viewpoints.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d Cole told the crowd. \u201cAnd especially a historically Christian institution like TCU has a responsibility to protect believers as a Christian university \u2014 they should be ashamed of themselves for not standing up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last week, TCU leadership said they never canceled Cole\u2019s event reservation<\/a>, because the event was never booked. <\/p>\n In a statement Tuesday evening, TCU spokesperson Greg Staley reiterated that the university did not \u201ccancel or unfairly burden\u201d Cole\u2019s or the Turning Point chapter\u2019s views. The statement highlighted that 849 religious events were held on campus in the last 14 months.<\/p>\n \u201cConservative and faith-based student organizations face no additional obstacles to hosting events on campus, including Charlie Kirk\u2019s 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,\u201d the statement read. \u201cTCU regularly and successfully welcomes Christian and faith-based events and speakers.\u201d<\/p>\n Social media posts reflecting Cole\u2019s characterization of what transpired<\/a> 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 \u201clook into\u201d the incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n Annie Cellar, president of TCU\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cthat don\u2019t fully represent or advocate for Christian beliefs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She said she hoped the event would help push for \u201cmore conservative, pro-America, pro-freedom values.\u201d But it was about more than just politics, she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAt 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\u2019s all I could ask for,\u201d Cellar said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what Charlie would have wanted as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are still so curious and interested,\u201d Cellar said. \u201cI just think it\u2019s been blown out of proportion online a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Rizzo, senior business student at TCU, has been involved in the university\u2019s chapter since his freshman year and volunteered at the event. He said he really liked the event but wished more students had attended.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m grateful that a lot of the community came out to support it,\u201d he said. \u201cI would have wished to see more college students, although I understand that we\u2019re 15 minutes away from the closest college, which is TCU, on a Tuesday night right before fall break.\u201d<\/p>\n The church\u2019s pews were mostly filled by an older audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n Attendee Miles Seaborn III, 73, described himself as an \u201calmost lifelong\u201d member of Birchman Baptist Church. His father led the church for 29 years before handing the reins to Pastor Robert Pearle.\u00a0<\/p>\n Seaborn said he believed his father, who integrated relevant and often political issues into ministry, would have thought the event was great.<\/p>\n \u201cWe take a stand on scripture, and that\u2019s my dad\u2019s influence initially, is that we believe the Bible is the inherent word of God, and everything is viewed through the lens of scripture here.\u201d<\/p>\n Married couple Mitzi Gault, 71, and Jim Gault, 73, have attended Birchman Baptist Church for more than 40 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n They said they\u2019re glad their church was willing to step in to host the event and doesn\u2019t shy away from politics like some churches. It\u2019s important to take a stand publicly, not just privately, Mitzi Gault said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve recently come to believe if our lives don\u2019t show Christ, then there\u2019s no point in us being here,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n After listening to Cole share her experience of \u201cgetting caught up in the crosshairs of transgender ideology\u201d at a young age, the couple said they felt called to take a more active role in protecting their grandchildren from such concepts.\u00a0<\/p>\n After acknowledging that attempting to book the event on TCU\u2019s campus was \u201cincredibly frustrating,\u201d Cole said publicity about the controversy helped raise awareness of the event along with what she sees as discriminatory policies on the university campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThose 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,\u201d Cole said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n McKinnon Rice is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1759902131_548_image-5.png\")
Annie Cellar, president of TCU\u2019s Turning Point USA chapter, speaks to attendees Oct. 7, 2025, at Birchman Baptist Church in Fort Worth. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1759902132_658_image-7.png\")
Attendees of a Turning Point USA event listen to activist Chloe Cole on Oct. 7, 2025, at Birchman Baptist Church in Fort Worth. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-4.png\")
Activist Chloe Cole speaks to attendees of a Turning Point USA event Oct. 7, 2025, at Birchman Baptist Church in Fort Worth. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America)<\/p>\n
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