Hundreds file into chapel to hear Matt Walsh speak at Washington and Lee University
Speech wraps up saga including protests, death threats, and a cancelation.

[*Audience awaiting Walsh’s appearance. Photo by author.*]

Matt Walsh, the prominent and controversial conservative commentator, author, and filmmaker, spoke on campus to a full crowd in Lee Chapel, National Historic Landmark, this Monday, September 18. [CLICK HERE to watch the recorded live-stream].

Walsh’s appearance marks the end of a seven-month saga, which began in March with his original invitation by The Spectator and W&L College Republicans. What followed was an outcry from many in the W&L community, headlined by a petition which accumulated over 600 signatures — including those of over 80 faculty members — calling on Washington and Lee University President William Dudley to “prevent Matt Walsh from speaking[,]” of which President Dudley refused.

The speech, which was initially reserved for March 30, was rescheduled by Walsh the day before his anticipated appearance, due to what Walsh said were “threats against my family and other serious security concerns.”

Because of how close his cancellation was to the date of his speech, groups on campus opposed to Walsh’s view had already prepared various methods of protest, including placing hundreds of LGBTQ pride flags around the Colonnade. This time, a row of transgender pride flags lined the brick walkway in front of Lee Chapel.

Walsh’s speech, entitled What is a Woman?, is a reference to Walsh’s 2022 film of the same name, in which he asks several people, from politicians to transgender healthcare experts to members of the Maasai Tribe in Kenya, the film’s eponymous question: what is a woman?

[*Poster announcing Mr. Walsh’s speech, widely circulated around campus.*]

A line of several hundred ticketholders had already assembled when the chapel’s doors opened at 6:30 PM: a mixture of W&L students, VMI cadets, and people from Rockbridge County and beyond. A notable security presence surrounded the event as well: at least 8 private security officials and 16 W&L Public Safety Officers stood on duty, while multiple Lexington Police Officers patrolled the area.

[*Crowd lining up to enter Lee Chapel prior to Walsh’s speech. Photo by author.*]

After a brief introduction by Henry Haden, ’25, president of W&L College Republicans and treasurer of The Spectator, and Hayley Andrews, ’24, Vice President of W&L College Republicans, Walsh entered the stage, welcomed with heavy applause.

After a few brief jokes, Walsh immediately jumped into the crux of his argument, opening that he had been, “speaking out against the suicide cult known as transgenderism for years now.”

(Following his speech, The Daily Wire quoted this description on X, formerly known as Twitter. The social media company’s CEO, Elon Musk, succinctly replied to that post: “Exactly”).

In his remarks, Walsh denied allegations that he contributes to the death of transgender people, stating that, “anybody who opposes trans ideology,” is treated this way.

He then attempted to summarize the position of those opposed to him, stating that they believed by, “failing to affirm transgenderism… we [conservatives] are engaging in a form of mass murder.”
Walsh then dissected what he believed was the root of these accusations. He stated that this genocide could not refer to a physical threat, using statistics from the FBI that two transgender Americans were killed in gender-related hate crimes in the United States during 2021, later arguing that a white transgender individual is slightly more likely to be killed in a racially motivated hate crime than one based on their transgender identity.

Walsh instead posited that the genocide is psychological. He argued that we live in an age of what he calls the “psychological man”, someone who defines themselves as, “an amalgamation of his beliefs, his perceptions, his feelings, his desires.”

He later reiterated this claim by stating that transgender activists believe that “my inner self-perception determines myself… I bring my physical self into alignment with my self-perception.” Connecting this to the accusations of his violence, he stated that by merely questioning someone’s identity, he was, “in effect killing,” them, in the eyes of his critics. “When you call those feelings [a person’s transgender identity] into question,” he stated, you are killing their self-perception, which is, so he claimed, the most important part of them, even more so than their physical body.

Walsh conceded that transgender individuals do face physical threats, yet he stated that, “the threat comes from themselves,” instead of an outside force. To prove this, he provided statistics that describe the abnormally high suicide rates within the transgender community, higher than any demographic group in the United States.

He then stated that much of the transgender community uses, “the most grotesque form of emotional blackmail,” against their opponents with the threat of their suicide, lest they oppose the policy preferences of transgender people. Summarizing his view on the philosophy of his critics, he stated, “If you hurt my feelings, I will kill myself, and it will be your fault.” Walsh rejected this idea, arguing that everyone is responsible for their own actions and lives.

Walsh then postulated that, under an enlarged definition of genocide, transgender ideology itself must be included, “due to what it does to those brainwashed into it.” Walsh then rejected the scientific consensus that the high suicide rate among the transgender community is largely due to lack of societal acceptance.

First, he argued that if the suicide rate is truly linked to acceptance, the rate of suicidality should go down as society becomes more inclusive to transgender individuals, a drop-off he claims has not occurred.

Second, he argued that under this framework there should be a plethora of accounts of transgender suicides throughout history due to a historic lack of social acceptance.

Finally, Walsh discussed groups that he considered “actually oppressed,” including enslaved people and Jews during the Holocaust. None of these groups, he argued, had nearly as high a rate of suicide as transgender people do in the modern United States.

Denying that transgender individuals are oppressed, he claimed that, “Trans people in modern America are among the most privileged human beings who have ever walked the Earth,” due to the support they receive from major corporations and the media.

Walsh then stated that the transgender need for affirmation is tied to something inherently wrong with transgender ideology, not societal bigotry against transgender individuals. The reason for this distinction, he claims, is because, “Trans ideology is self-destructive at its core… it is in effect a suicide cult, it breeds despair and hopelessness.” Walsh later doubled down on this position, calling being transgender, “A war with yourself.”

Subsequently, he likened transgender ideology to the suicidal People’s Temple in Jonestown, Guyana: both in the sense that he views transgenderism as suicidal but also equating the forced suicide of many people in Jonestown to children, who, he believes, “fall victim to the trans cult today.”

Walsh opposed minors receiving sexual reassignment surgery, which he has previously described as “child mutilation.” He then used detransitioners — people who reverse the process of their social or medical transition — to argue that children should not make permanent, life-altering choices about their bodies.

He continued by claiming that transgender people themselves are the largest victims of transgender ideology and should be the most on board with its elimination from the public consciousness. Walsh stated that transgender activists are transgender peoples’ greatest “enemy.”

Finally, Walsh argued that it was transgender activists that started the public debate over transgenderism, due to their demand — according to him —that everyone else comply to their, “delusion so that you can make yourself feel better.”

Claiming it was never about privacy or, “living your life in peace,” Walsh instead argued that the transgender acceptance movement is truly about pride and ego: more about celebration than tolerance.

To wrap up, Walsh argued that transgender activists act akin to the mouse in If You Give a Mouse a Cookie: “You wanted the cookie, and you were given the cookie…but then you wanted to eat everything else in the house too.”

After applause ended, the event proceeded to a question-and-answer session, which consisted of six questions. The second question — one of two questions critical towards Walsh’s viewpoints — has already received over 20,000 views on YouTube.

Walsh’s talk was generally well-received by the audience, in part because campus groups ideologically opposed to Walsh held alternative programs during the event.

“I thought it was interesting how hurting someone’s feelings is worse than hurting someone physically,” said one Washington & Lee student. Another student thought that the, “School should spend money on [bringing in opposing voices]…Just because you don’t agree with him doesn’t mean you should ban him.”

Two seniors from Virginia Military Institute (VMI) told The Spectator that they were fairly impressed with Walsh’s performance and were encouraged by the high VMI turnout at the event.

Another W&L student who was critical of Walsh told The Spectator that they were disappointed by the lack of “more challenging questions” from the audience.

Concern had arose earlier in the day among event organizers that a Q&A segment would not even be possible, given logistical restraints imposed on the Young America’s Foundation (YAF) film crew while setting up.

According to YAF staff member Breana Marsh, chapel officials “did everything [they] could to make things unnecessarily difficult, including preventing our photographer from doing his job and not allowing students to freely ask questions” as normally allowed at YAF events.

While university officials assured the event organizers that safety concerns prevented participants from assembling in the aisles for Q&A — even if only two people stood in the aisle at one time — Marsh and others were quick to cite recent chapel events in which students stood in the aisle during Q&A.

Despite the hiccups, Marsh said that “The Washington & Lee student body and community came out in droves to support the students who put on the event.”