UD uproar over anti-transgender speaker

University of Delaware administrators and college Republicans are under fire from students, alumni and state GOP leaders for hosting an anti-transgender speaker this week.

Before conservative journalist Milo Yiannopoulos appeared Monday night, promotional posters popped up on campus with messages like "Trans = Mentally Ill" and "Trannies Are Gay" above images of First Lady Michelle Obama and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner.

The roughly 20 signs, taped to buildings, railings and parking meters, provoked condemnation from LGBT advocates before being removed by University Police.

It's still unclear who was responsible for papering the campus. UD College Republicans distanced themselves from the incident in a Facebook post Tuesday: "The posters were hung by Milo's staff without our knowledge or consent," it read.

"As a club, we do not endorse the statements that were on the posters, and they do not reflect the beliefs of our club. We truly apologize to all who were hurt by the content of the posters."

But that apology rang hollow to some members of the UD community, who skewered the student group for giving Yiannopoulos a platform in Mitchell Hall at the close of national Free Speech Week.

Others lauded the group for exposing the hypocrisy and political correctness of progressives. One Facebook commentator referenced the September 2015 uproar over pieces of paper lanterns mistaken for nooses on UD's Green. At the time, acting university President Nancy Targett called the incident a hate crime.

Wearing a sequin jacket, gold crosses and sunglasses, the 32-year-old Yiannopoulos spent more than 90 minutes Monday night criticizing transgender people as "mentally ill," "retarded," "very damaged" "and obsessed with being victims and being given special rights."

At the start of his tirade, the Brit, who is openly gay and a supporter of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, held up some of the posters, calling them "very hurtful and offensive" before cracking a smile. The audience laughed.

Yiannopoulos also compared praising transgender people to encouraging anorexics to starve themselves, urging his audience to rebel against the "scourge of pronoun enforcement."

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An editor for conservative website Breitbart, Yiannopoulos was permanently banned from Twitter earlier this year for his inflammatory rhetoric against "Ghostbusters" actress Leslie Jones.

Multiple student organizations petitioned UD to cancel his appearance, one of more than 20 college stops on his "Dangerous Faggot Tour." Both New York University and the University of Maryland previously canceled Yiannopoulos events citing "security concerns."

Yiannopoulos' next local appearance is Nov. 15 at the Media Theatre for the Performing Arts in Pennsylvania. Theater staff could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Wilmington native Sarah McBride, who became the first transgender person to speak at the Democratic National Convention last summer, called Yiannopoulos a "professional troll" and denounced UD and College Republicans for hosting "an individual whose entire persona rests on insulting and mocking people with disabilities, women, fat people, trans people, gay people and people of color."

"Sometimes, people think the best way to celebrate free speech is to go as extreme as possible, regardless of who it hurts," said McBride, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign.

Student leaders representing the College Republicans, UD College Democrats and Haven, a university student group promoting LGBTQ rights, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday. Yiannopoulos said he was busy traveling and unavailable for comment.

UD College Republicans did not notify the state party about Yiannopoulos' appearance, according to state GOP Chairman Charlie Copeland.

"I don't know what his ideas are," Copeland said.  After a reporter quoted some of Yiannopoulos' statements, Copeland responded that they were not representative of the Republican Party or of Trump's platform.

Former Delaware GOP Executive Director John Fluharty, who is gay, took it one step further. In a harshly-worded email to Andrew Lipman, a UD senior and state chairman of Delaware Federation of College Republicans, Fluharty accused the student group of being "duped."

"'Us other Republicans' — the gay ones, like me, the transgender ones, the African-American ones, the Republicans who are told every day by people like Yiannopolous that there is something wrong with them — will soldier on building a more welcoming and tolerant party," Fluharty wrote.

"If the College Republicans think it better to bury their heads in the sand and get in bed with merchants of hate, we are happy to build it without them," he continued.

In response to Fluharty, Lipman wrote: "I must say I find it very hypocritical how I am being chastised for supporting Milo when I was chastised for not supporting and endorsing Donald Trump."

"Milo is an entertainer known to few," Lipman added. "Mr. Trump is a presidential nominee who is hated by many in this country and in my mind is doing significantly more to harm our party with many different groups, including those whom you listed, than Milo could ever do."

Below is a YouTube video of Milo Yiannopoulos' presentation at the University of Delaware.

Warning: Content may be offensive to some. 

Public opinion on transgender rights is sharply divided along party lines, according to a recent study by UD's Center for Political Communication.

Researchers found that public support for laws protecting transgender students from discrimination declined from 71 percent in late 2015 to 56 percent last summer. Among Republicans surveyed, there was a more significant drop from 62 percent to 39 percent this year.

UD student fees paid for the nearly $1,400 in expenses associated with holding Yiannopoulos' sold-out talk. Hundred of people attended.

Because the College Republicans is a registered student organization, the university couldn't deny them the same privileges afforded to other student groups, university spokesman Andrea Boyle Tippett wrote in an email.

"The views and opinions expressed by any speakers on campus do not necessarily reflect the views of the university, its administration or faculty," she wrote.

The week before Yiannopoulos' arrival, UD President Dennis Assanis wrote an opinion column for the student newspaper in which he described how great universities are open marketplaces of ideas and conflicting opinions.

"This is how we learn, grow and gain a clear understanding of the world and our place in it," Assanis wrote.

While Yiannopoulos was at the podium Monday, comparing sex reassignment therapy for transgender people to shock therapy used against gays, other student groups held a "unity" event featuring dancing, snacks and games and attended by about 250 people.

On Saturday, McBride will appear at the fifth annual "Anti-Bullying/Gay Straight Alliance Summit," held at PolyTech High School Adult Education and Conference Center in Woodside. Organized by the United Way of Delaware's PRIDE Council, the event is closed to the public.

Contact Margie Fishman at 302-324-2882, on Twitter @MargieTrende or mfishman@delawareonline.com.