Republican Candidate Booed by University of North Texas Students

On March 3 2022, a video apparently showing Texas House candidate Jeff Younger (R) getting booed by a university classroom full of students spread virally on Twitter:

In the brief clip (20 seconds in total), a man identified as Younger is standing at the front of the lecture hall. Several rows of students can be seen pounding tables and engaging in an alternating chant of “fucking fascist” or “fuck you, fascist.”

Fact Check

Claim: Video shows Texas House candidate Jeff Younger getting booed by University of North Texas students during a March 2022 visit.

Description: A video seemingly showing Texas House candidate Jeff Younger (R) being booed by university students spread virally on Twitter. The video, 20 seconds in total, shows a man identified as Younger standing at the front of a lecture hall with students pounding tables and chanting. Further context revealed that this occurred during an event where Jeff Younger, often controversial due to his stance on transgender youth and his own transgender child, was invited to speak.

Rating: True

Rating Explanation: Local news publications and multiple sources confirm the events in the video, indicating its validity.

Of the two viral tweets we located, neither included information about the context of the video. In a threaded response tweet, a journalist pointed out that there was a back story to the chants:

The quoted tweet and video were “no longer available.” However, an archived version of a thread shared by now-suspended user @Belkouralsma appeared to provide a first-hand account of the events leading up to Younger getting booed.

Alongside photographs, @Belkouralsma tweeted:

[1] A dozen more cops in and around the building

[2] Protesters are now being allowed inside

[3, Image only]

[4] Room is getting full, mostly by protesters

[5, Image only]

[6] Kelly, speaker, and another student entered, mostly boos, and a couple of cheers

[7] Can’t hear the speaker

[8, Image only]

[9] Jeff younger getting bood

[10] “F*ck these fascists” roaring through the room
Jeff Younger asked for more

[11, video]

According to a March 3 2022 article by the San Antonio Express-News, the event occurred on the evening of March 2 2022; the piece referenced the claim that Younger is the parent of a transgender child. In “Anti-trans Texas House candidate Jeff Younger shouted down by University of North Texas students,” the news organization reported:

A North Texas candidate running for the Texas House of Representatives to outlaw sex reassignment surgeries for children was shouted and cursed at by students at the University of North Texas in a recently posted social media video.

In the 17-second video, District 63 candidate Jeff Younger can be seen standing at the front of a classroom as students bang on their desks and shout insults at him. Younger claps his hands and shouts something indiscernible back at the students.

Younger – who lost a years-long battle for custody of his 9-year-old twins, one of them a transgender girl – was invited to speak on campus by the Young Conservatives of Texas, a student organization that promoted the event with anti-trans flyers distributed across campus.

MySanAntonio.com also covered the incident, adding details about Younger’s stance on transgender youth and his transgender child:

Texas House candidate Jeff Younger, who seeks to outlaw transgender youth care, was driven out of an event hosted at the University of North Texas by protesters on Wednesday, March 2 [2022]. The event played out on a thread from Twitter user Ismael Belkoura [that night], who was posting photos and video from the event. Belkoura’s thread has since been taken down by Twitter.

[…]

Younger’s campaign website says he is running to outlaw “Transgender Child Abuse.” It’s a Texas issue that is already being fought in the courts after Gov. Greg Abbott issued a directive [in late February 2022] to state health and family protective services officials to investigate transgender youth care as child abuse.

A Dallas jury granted Younger’s ex-wife Anne Georgulas custody of his now nine-year-old transgender daughter in 2019.

As indicated by the article, Texas governor Greg Abbott (R) issued a letter undermining medical and familial support for transgender youth in Texas in late February 2022:

Ballotpedia provided current information about Younger’s candidacy and developments around it. On March 3 2022, it read:

Jeff Younger (Republican Party) is running for election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 63. He is on the ballot in the Republican primary runoff on May 24, 2022. He advanced from the Republican primary on March 1, 2022.

Younger’s website included an “issues” page, featuring a section titled “Ban Transgender Child Abuse.” In it, Younger misgendered his daughter and complained:

A Texas family court stole my children from me, giving my ex-wife authority to transition my son, James, into a girl. She began to transition James at the age of two. I’ve spent over a million dollars trying to stop my ex-wife and the courts from chemically castrating my son. An economic crisis for any family. Texas can do better. PERIOD.

The Coppell Independent School District is actively teaching my son that he is a girl. When I took James to school in boy’s clothes, the teacher gave him a dress. I wonder where he got the dress? The school says they don’t have to call James by his real name. They use a girl’s name and actively teach him that he is a girl. They make James use the girl’s bathroom at school. Texas can do better.

Every court-ordered psychologist has tried to transition my son to a girl. The American Psychology Association and the Texas Psychology Association require psychologists to affirm children in false gender identities rather than help them identify with their biological sex. Texas can do better.

My son was misdiagnosed by a pediatrician who planned to put him on chemical castration drugs at the age of nine. James is nine, now. If they put James on chemical castration drugs, he’ll be permanently maimed and sterilized. He’ll never be able to have a family or normal sexual relationship with a wife. The American Academy of Pediatrics requires doctors to affirm children in false gender identities rather than help them identify with their biological sex. Texas can do better.

Texas is one of the nation’s largest providers of sex-change surgeries and chemical castration hormone treatments to kids. Read that again. These so-called gender doctors are making millions off the misery of children. Texas can do better.

We must outlaw transgender sexual abuse of children in Texas.

Twitter video purportedly depicting Texas House candidate Jeff Younger being booed at the University of North Texas on March 2 2022 spread virally, with one popular version apparently suspended by Twitter. Local news organizations validated the events of the video. Reply tweets referenced Younger’s own transgender child, information Younger volunteered on his campaign website.