On Oct. 24, at 7:20 p.m. approximately 20 protestors got up and left the Speaker Louder with Riley Gaines event on UW campus.
The protestors, whose numbers averaged 20-25, stood up, ripped up the posters provided at the event (which said phrases like ‘Cowgirls stand with Riley Gaines’ and ‘There are only two sexes’), and walked out about 20 minutes into Gaines presentation.
“If they want to have that right to say whatever they want, which they can say whatever they want, but by putting that into laws or actions, you’re promoting this culture of being a hypocrite,” Hannah Lund, a sociology and psychology major said.
They attended the event alongside other protestors.
“It’s very important that everybody be given a voice and when those people aren’t given a voice that we demand that they be given a voice because, yes, we’re out here. We’re protesting, but we didn’t interrupt them,” Grace Harden, a criminal justice major, said.
Harden also made reference to the incidents revoking Matthew Shepard and Artemis Langford.
The protestors were bombarded by media outlets, and also persistently filmed by the Riley Gaines PR team while waiting outside.
A rumor said that if they waited until after the event, Gaines would speak with them. This remains unconfirmed as the presentation has just ended (approx. 8:02P.M.).
The Branding Iron will continue to update or produce another story as the event(s) come to a close.
