Far-right Christian conservatives are outraged after a student protested transphobic self-proclaimed "theocratic fascist" Matt Walsh by eating pages torn from a Bible.
The protest came in advance of a lecture at University of Wisconsin given by Walsh and a screening of his controversial documentary What Is a Woman?, which traffics in well-worn transphobic nonsense, misrepresented scientific claims, and conspiracy theories.
Clips posted by far-right organization Young America's Foundation showed a protestor tearing a page from a book and eating it at the protest. YAF says the page was from the Bible, though that cannot be verified.
\u201cProtestors have now shredded The Bible and one began eating pages\u201d— YAF (@YAF) 1666649131
Other clips posted by YAF showed more conventional means of protest, like demonstrators chanting "Trans rights are human rights."
Walsh's film presents itself as a legitimate intellectual inquiry into issues of gender identity, womanhood and the gender-affirming healthcare sought by transgender people, but relies almost entirely on misrepresentations and outright lies about the topics at hand.
Included in Walsh's film are false claims that gender-affirming treatments are experimental and harmful, that children are not capable of knowing whether they are transgender, and that transgender identities are a recent Western invention.
Walsh's film also tried to trick transgender people into participating in the documentary by setting up a fake organization called the Gender Unity Project.
Walsh frequently parrots right-wing talking points about LGBTQ people being "groomers"--a far-right byword for "pedophile"--and has made anti-LGBTQ, and especially transphobic, rhetoric and attacks a cornerstone of his activism and work.
Last week, he organized a “Rally to End Child Mutilation” in protest of doctors supposedly performing gender-affirming surgeries on children, a common conspiracy theory among far-right conservatives.
Such procedures are illegal to perform on children under 18 nearly everywhere in the country, and medical interventions like puberty blockers that are provided to teens are entirely reversible.
As always, Christians on Twitter seemed unaware and unbothered by these facts and instead responded with outrage about the protestor's stunt and, of course, declarations that the protestors are possessed by demons and will end up in hell.
\u201c@ElishaKrauss There will be a day when they answer for this. Sadly, they will remember it for eternity. Satan is the great deceiver and he has so many deceived.\u201d— Elisha (@Elisha) 1666710046
\u201cThese people are demons.\u201d— Cameron Jacob Gilliam (@Cameron Jacob Gilliam) 1666652446
\u201cPossessed.\u201d— Anacleto Sotomonte \ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\uddfd\ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddf1\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9 \ud83d\ude9c \ud83d\ude9b (@Anacleto Sotomonte \ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\uddfd\ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddf1\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9 \ud83d\ude9c \ud83d\ude9b) 1667099126
There was also a bizarre obsession with Islam among the Christians outraged by the protest, many of whom claimed eating a page out of the Quran would have inspired retribution, including murder.
\u201c@yaf Protestors have now shredded The Bible and one began eating pages \n\nWe wonder why they aren't doing that with a Koran...\u201d— YAF (@YAF) 1666649131
\u201c@yaf Now I want to see them do that with the Coran. If they have any balls at all.\u201d— YAF (@YAF) 1666649131
\u201c@yaf Try that with the Koran and see what happens.\u201d— YAF (@YAF) 1666649131
\u201c@yaf now do the Quran\u201d— YAF (@YAF) 1666649131
\u201c@yaf Brave \ud83d\udc4d\nNow try that with the Koran in Dearborn, MI. You'll end up 12 inches shorter after they decapitate you.\u201d— YAF (@YAF) 1666649131
More liberal-minded commenters couldn't help but point out many of the offended Christians' hypocrisy.
\u201c@yaf Instead of critizising their protests, Cristians in general and Evangelicals in particular, should be asking themselves why their numbers keep dwindling while the ''Nones'' keep growing at alarming rates.\n\nRegardless of how you see Christianity, this is a hard fact.\u201d— YAF (@YAF) 1666649131
\u201c@yaf\u201d— YAF (@YAF) 1666649131
\u201c@yaf\u201d— YAF (@YAF) 1666649131
\u201c@ElishaKrauss Did the lightning strike? No? So what can we conclude?\n\nEither God doesn't exist, or God cares about this a lot less than you do.\u201d— Elisha (@Elisha) 1666710046
Walsh's film screening and lecture at the University of Wisconsin went on as scheduled despite the protests.