Left-wing students protested the existence of a debate on the legality of transgender procedures for minors, claiming such a discussion could be offensive to the LGBTQ community.
Vanderbilt University's College Republicans (VCR) hosted the debate on April 4, taking up the issue of a Tennessee bill which effectively prohibits healthcare providers from administering gender transition procedures to individuals under the age of 18. The contentious bill, signed by Gov. Bill Lee, R., on March 2, takes effect on July 1.
Chandler Quaile, a junior at the university who also serves as the community relations director of the LGBTQ awareness group Vanderbilt Lambda Association, was among those upset about the debate being held.
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Quaile used a megaphone to protest before the debate began, arguing it was offensive to the transgender community and "the audience was complicit in the spreading of hatred," according to The Vanderbilt Hustler. He was later escorted out of the building by a campus police officer.
In the weeks leading up to the debate, several other students and organizations spoke out against it.
"[It's] potentially opening up the space for bigotry," Kendelle Grubbs, a junior at Vanderbilt, alleged of the VCR-hosted discussion during a student government elections debate in March, The Hustler reported.
Shane Mumma, president of Vanderbilt College Republicans, had a different take on the topic.
"I don’t think it’s productive to denounce debates," he said, according to The Hustler. "I think debates like this are very important on college campuses, especially a school like Vanderbilt, where we value free speech so much."
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Vanderbilt College Democrats called for the event to be canceled before it took place, accusing VCR of instigating transphobia in a social media post.
"The Vanderbilt College Democrats are in no way associated with this event and condemn the debate altogether," the Vanderbilt Democrats' Executive Board wrote in an Instagram post published on March 23.
"Hosting this event mere weeks after TN enacted some of the most oppressive anti-trans legislation in the country is incredibly tone deaf and attendance at these sorts of events tells trans and LGBTQ+ students that their existences on our campus is up for debate. We reaffirm that trans students on Vanderbilt's campus belong, and trans and nonbinary minors deserve access to life saving gender affirming medical care," the post continued.
In its own lengthy statement posted to Instagram on April 2, the Vanderbilt Lambda Association showed solidarity with the transgender community, called for the College Republicans to cancel the debate and urged others to boycott it altogether.
"This event implies that transgender lives are up for debate and their healthcare is a matter of opinion rather than a human right… Our lives and rights are NOT up for debate," the statement read in part.
The organization announced it would be hosting an alternate event at the same time as the College Republicans' debate held last Tuesday.
Fox News Digital reached out to Vanderbilt College Republicans, Vanderbilt College Democrats and Vanderbilt Lambda Association for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
