The MTSU College Republicans welcomed Joshua Haymes, a podcaster and self-proclaimed Christian nationalist, to campus on Wednesday to hold an open discussion on abortion, pornography and “transgender ideology,” drawing mixed reactions from students.
Approximately 100 people gathered at an event reminiscent of the open-air campus debates popularized by Charlie Kirk. However, Haymes said that his real mission wasn’t to engage in debate, but to spread the gospel and “challenge evil.”
“I have views that are going to challenge even most of the Christians on this campus,” Haymes said. “And the irony is, I have the kinds of views that your great, great, great, great grandparents held, and it was just normal. I’m what you would call a paleoconservative.”
Ryan Robertson, president of the MTSU College Republicans and one of the event’s organizers, met Haymes just a few weeks back during a student organization fair, and the pair planned Wednesday’s event. Haymes is not a current student or an MTSU alumnus.
Robertson said Haymes hosted the podcast Reformation Redpill and wanted to come to MTSU to host similar events to Wednesday’s.
“We didn’t think there would be [such] a massive crowd, but we’re glad that people got to hear the gospel,” Robertson said.
But Fay Freitas, a freshman biology major, said that events like this only spread fear, especially amongst MTSU’s LGBTQ+ community.
“I’d like to ask why they’re very anti-trans ideology,” Freitas said. “I’m LGBTQ+ myself, and I find it very scary that we’re on campus talking about anti-transgender ideology. We have a large amount of trans people on campus, and it’s just kind of scary.”
Haymes specified that he was against violence of any kind, and that “transgender ideology,” not trans-people, must be eradicated.
“All these ideologies are depraved and evil,” Haymes said. “They’re bringing a curse on our land. God is not pleased with America. We’re killing babies, we’re chopping up little kids and we’re watching pornography all day, every day.”
Haymes cited gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth as “chopping up little kids,” a practice Tennessee banned in 2023.
The ban went into effect with Senate Bill 1, which said that the state has a “legitimate, substantial and compelling interest in encouraging minors to appreciate their sex, particularly as they undergo puberty.”
Haymes concluded the event in the air-conditioned Student Union after spending about an hour in the hot sun outside of the Keathley University Center. In total, he spent about three hours on campus.
MTSU junior Piper Borski debated Haymes about abortion, which the Tennessee General Assembly banned in 2022. A trigger ban went into effect in Tennessee right after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022). The ban criminalizes abortion in all stages of pregnancy with limited medical exceptions.
“[Haymes] was saying that abortion is murder, and I don’t believe that, just from a health care perspective,” Borski said. “I think it’s a right that every woman should have. And I think it’s sad that I have a chance to bring a daughter into this world that has less rights than her grandmother.”
Some, like Borski, took Haymes seriously and debated with him, while others, such as an unidentified person dressed in a full-body Spider-Man costume, took a more comedic approach as they discussed Mary Jane (Spider-Man’s love interest).
Blake Webster, a master’s student and member of the MTSU College Republicans, said that conversations like these are crucial for the country to function as a united entity.
“[It’s a] political debate, trying to bring back when left and right could have civil discussions and maybe not talk about the symptoms themselves, but try and find the core problems that we face in our country,” Webster said. “And we can try to solve it unified as one nation and not 15 different subgroups.”
This story was originally published on MTSU Sidelines on October 2, 2025.