Controversial commentator to hold 'Pray the Gay Away' event at PSU despite protest

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (WJAC) — Right-Wing political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos was invited to Penn State’s University Park Campus by student organization Uncensored America.

The announcement sparked outcry and prompted comments from the institution.

According to the event's webpage, Yiannopoulos "will talk about free speech, faith, conversion therapy, hairstyle, and more."

The event's tagline is "Pray the Gay Away."

The University says it does not condone what Yiannopoulos has to say, but that he has the unquestioned right to say it.

The following statement was posted to The University’s website:

“As offensive and hurtful as Yiannopoulos’s comments have been and are likely to be again, and despite our own abhorrence for such statements and the promotional tactics used, Uncensored America has the undeniable Constitutional right to sponsor this presentation on our campus. The University lacks the right to do anything to stop it.”

Theo Carmichael, a student at PSU, agrees with that statement wholeheartedly.

“I don’t think that kind of talk belongs anywhere but he does have a Constitutional right to talk so it’s not for me to say that he can’t.”

A petition with nearly 6,000 signatures sits on Change.org, but another student says that canceling the speaker isn’t right, unless violence ensues.

“In terms of canceling it, I hope that they let him get his word out and if it deserves it, I guess we’ll see how the reaction is.”

Tyler Hayden may not be a fan of what he has to say, but believes that a university setting is built to listen.

“The general overlying principles you can for sure talk about and that’s why we have colleges here dedicated to sociology, communications, stuff like that,” he said. “Whether this is healthy for this place, I don’t know about that.”

He’ll be speaking at the Thomas Building on November 3rd.

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