Anti-trans influencers came to speak at Cal Poly — so 300 protesters gathered for a drag show
Students and community members gathered outside a speaking event featuring two anti-transgender influencers on Cal Poly’s campus Tuesday night for a unique kind of protest.
Around 300 people watched performers Skinny Mocha, Mercy Killing, Junie B. Moans and more perform in a “guerrilla drag show” outside of a scheduled Turning Point USA event.
The Cal Poly chapter of the conservative organization was hosting guest speakers Chloe Cole and Chris Elston — also known as “Billboard Chris” — for a speaking event that drew backlash from supporters of trans students.
Meanwhile the drag show outside was organized by the Cal Poly Drag Club “in protest of the anti-trans event taking place” on Cal Poly’s campus, according to a club post on Instagram.
“It’s kind of a bittersweet moment,” said Drag Club vice president Vinny Torres, whose stage-name is Skinny Mocha. “It’s nice to see the support. I just hate why everyone has to gather (here).”
Inside, Cole, a speaker for the Young America’s Foundation, and Elston, a speaker for the Leadership Institute, spoke to an audience of around 100 people about “what the transgender movement really is.”
“As a non-binary student, I cannot stand how an organization like Turning Point USA is allowed to exist on this campus,” computer science freshman Eman Castillo said. “(They) do not belong at Cal Poly where the LGBTQ+ community is open and proud.”
Castillo said they were also scared of the organization’s presence at Cal Poly after one of its members in Arizona, Kalen D’Almeida, allegedly assaulted and harassed an Arizona State University professor last month.
D’Almeida was at the Cal Poly event, according to a post on his X — formerly Twitter — account Tuesday night.
Mocha, Castillo and others said they were excited to see the large turnout of community members and students in support of their drag protest, but felt that the university did not do enough to prevent the event and stop harmful rhetoric.
“We understand why some people are upset about particular guest speakers at Cal Poly,” university spokesperson Matt Lazier said in an email to The Tribune last week. “But it is not the university’s role to decide who can and cannot express their viewpoints on campus.”
As of Tuesday morning, Lazier had not responded for comment on whether the university was aware that D’Almeida was present at the event or the number of agencies and responding officers that were deployed at the event.
This story was originally published December 6, 2023 at 11:24 AM.