Chloe Cole Cancels UW Speech Over Antifa Threats, Vows to Reschedule

Chloe Cole spoke out after canceling a speech at the University of Washington over threats from groups like Antifa. She vowed to reschedule the event as campus tensions rise following a fatal stabbing.

"We started having these threats from different groups like Antifa," Cole told Fox News Digital in an interview Wednesday. She said tensions peaked in the days before the event.

A 19-year-old University of Washington student identified as a transgender woman was stabbed to death Sunday in an off-campus housing facility, local outlet KING 5 reported.

"I don't want anybody to die," Cole said. "I don't want the violence to continue. And I can't believe that, in the wake of such a horrific crime, people can even think about continuing that violence. There's no justification for it."

Cole, a detransitioner who transitioned from female to male between ages 12 and 16, was set to speak Wednesday as part of TPUSA’s "Pick Up the Mic" initiative.

"There were local Antifa groups that were actually scheduling these large-scale protests, and there were so many people who I saw online, just out in the open, who were saying things like, 'I hope you get Kirked,'" Cole said.

A student group, UW Divest News, called for protests. It labeled Cole a "transphobic right-wing grifter" and urged students to pressure the university to cancel the event.

"This event was going to be another one of those events where I talk about my experience about how to tackle these issues," she said.

Cole added, "I do worry about my personal safety and I do regularly receive threats of all sorts, but after this event, I've had so many people just messaging me from, emailing me all over, telling me that whatever violence would have happened at the event, I would deserve to be subjected to it."

She called it egregious that some used the student's murder, which she had no connection to, to justify more violence.

"I've had a lot of students say, ‘Out of respect, you should shut down this event. You shouldn't be speaking here at all because somebody died. And it's your rhetoric that continues the deaths of transgender people,’" Cole said. "I've seen more people connect me to this murder that I did not do than people calling for an investigation, to find the perpetrator, to find the monster who did this."

Cole said people prioritize ideology and politics over treating others well. She called for better protection for those facing death threats for speaking out.

"I'm not afraid of these people," she added.

The women's rights advocate refused to be discouraged.

"I have a heart for these people," Cole said. "I want them to know that there is another way out for them. And I used to be that radical myself. But it's not something that's discouraging me, because I know there's always going to be another opportunity. It's something I'm going to keep praying on. And I — for as long as I feel called to do this — I will continue speaking on campus."

A University of Washington spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "The national TPUSA organization made the decision to cancel the event that was scheduled for today." The spokesperson noted that UW Student Activities Office leadership discussed the event's timing with the UW TPUSA chapter given the recent killing of an LGBTQIA+ community member. But the decision came from national TPUSA.

The spokesperson added that no suspect has been identified and no motive established. The Seattle Police Department leads the homicide investigation.

Katelyn Seratt, Turning Point USA chapter president at the University of Washington, said in a statement to Fox News Digital, "As many in the Seattle area have heard, a transgender University of Washington student was tragically murdered on Sunday night. The University of Washington chapter of Turning Point USA condemns this horrific act of violence in the strongest possible terms. No one should ever be subjected to such senseless brutality. Our thoughts and condolences are with the victim’s family and friends."

Seratt continued, "In light of this tragedy and by an overwhelming surge of violent threats directed at our chapter, threats that appear deliberately designed to falsely associate our peaceful event with the murder, we have made the difficult decision to postpone our upcoming event with Chloe Cole."

"TPUSA at UW is not leaving campus," she added. "We remain fully committed to promoting free speech, open dialogue, and intellectual diversity at the University of Washington. We look forward to rescheduling this important conversation at the earliest appropriate time."