Chloe Cole cancels University of Washington speech after claiming threats from activists

Detransitioner and conservative activist Chloe Cole canceled a scheduled University of Washington speech Tuesday, citing what she described as death threats from Antifa and saying her security team and local police were not prepared to handle the situation.

Ms. Cole had been set to speak Wednesday at UW’s Kane Hall as part of a Turning Point USA “Pick Up the Mic” event. In a video posted to social media, Ms. Cole alleged the group had moved beyond protest. 

“Antifa has assembled a local militia, in their own words, to shut down this event,” Ms. Cole said in the announcement. “Their actions, their explicit threats on my life, have raised this event to national attention, a level of attention our security team and our PD are frankly unprepared for.”

Ms. Cole, who went through the process of transitioning from female to male between the ages of 12 and 16, has become one of the most prominent voices in the detransitioner movement. At 15, she underwent hormones and a double mastectomy. 

Ms. Cole said she was taking the alleged threats more seriously in the aftermath of last year’s assassination of Charlie Kirk. Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot in the neck on Sept. 10, 2025, while speaking at an outdoor debate at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. 

“Before Charlie Kirk’s assassination, I think I would have been less careful,” Ms. Cole said. “But the times have changed and speaking on a university campus in 2026 can come with deadly consequences. We are postponing this event because of this reality.”

Ms. Cole was defiant about what the cancellation meant.

“This is not a win for Antifa because truth will always win,” she said. “I will be back. Not just at UW, but to many campuses across the country. Because once conversations stop, that is when the violence begins.”

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Two campus groups — Students for a Democratic Society at UW and the UW Divestment Campaign — circulated a protest flyer calling Ms. Cole a “transphobic grifter” and demanding the university cancel the event and ban TPUSA from campus altogether. Both groups have been involved in pro-Palestinian activism at UW. 

After Ms. Cole’s announcement, UW Divest News posted on social media appearing to celebrate the cancellation and invited supporters to gather outside Kane Hall. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet said the organization was “incredibly proud” of its student leaders and of Ms. Cole, all of whom pushed forward until safety concerns made rescheduling unavoidable. Kolvet said TPUSA “continues to face violence and threats of violence from the radical left when we attempt to peacefully assemble and debate ideas.”

The University of Washington said in a statement that the national TPUSA organization made the decision to cancel and noted the school had been developing a security plan for the event. The university pointed to a TPUSA event featuring Nick Freitas the previous week that proceeded without incident.

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