Texas activist who clashed with 'unhinged' trans protesters says women must be brave: 'Time to stand up'

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Women's rights advocate describes hostile encounters with transgender protesters

Michelle Evans, Round Rock Texas chapter leader for Independent Women’s Network, talks about why it's important for women to stand up to transgender ideology, despite threats.

Conservative women's rights advocate Michelle Evans said she and her allies won't be stopped or silenced in their fight to defend women, even when being screamed at by "unhinged" transgender activists.

The Round Rock Texas chapter leader for Independent Women’s Network was one of several speakers shouted down by transgender activists at a pro-women rally at the Texas Capitol.

Evans said it was the first time she'd seen counter-protesters show up armed with "AR-15s."

"You know, it's an open carry state. And I respect everybody's right to keep and bear arms. We had security and protection that were armed as well. But it does show a sort of ramp-up on their end," she told Fox News Digital.

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Pro-transgender activists clash at pro-women rally in Texas. (Fox News Digital)

The activists used microphones to effectively drown out the voices of speakers at the event and shouted obscenities at the rallygoers, which included women who had detransitioned.

"We had very loud, very energetic and very seemingly unhinged counter-protesters," Evans said. Her encounter with a left-wing activist who accused her of "misgendering" went viral last week on social media.

"I'm a man, b–h," the activist said.

"By all appearances and any bit of common sense would tell you that she is not [a man]," Evans recalled.

Evans described seeing the same left-wing activists "over and over" again at the "Let Women Speak" events, saying the opposition was mostly women in their teens and 20s, as well as "middle-aged men dressed as women." 

The other side refuses to engage in dialogue at these protests, she said.

"Most of the time these protesters spent a lot of energy screaming the same chants over and over again. ‘F Greg Abbott’, ‘F Michelle Evans.’ ‘Trans rights are human rights.’ But when questioned to elaborate on that, like what their point is, what rights do you not have? Is there such a thing as a trans kid? They refuse to respond," she said.

Michelle Evans Round Rock Texas chapter leader for  for Independent Women's Network spoke to Fox News Digital about the hostile counterprotesters she's encountered while protesting for women's rights.

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Protesters are also getting more aggressive and threatening, she claimed.

"There is a huge overlap between the Antifa movement, the Defund the Police movement and the trans rights activism movement," in Texas, she said. 

"You see the same people over and over again at these events that threaten violence, harass attendees, and they hope that we just won't show up. They keep trying to cancel us, and we just keep moving forward," Evans said.

Despite the resistance she's faced, Evans says it's crucial for women to "be brave" and speak out, even if it costs them friends or their careers. She believes women are being marginalized by the trans movement, which is fighting to share women's private spaces and sports teams.

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"For too long, we've been complacent and felt like we were the silent majority and other people would carry the torch for us," she said. "We've noticed now that that's not going to happen, that we have to have a truly grassroots upswelling here and be vocal and be brave."

Evans said the "beauty of their movement" is that women of any background or political persuasion are welcome to fight against the erasure of women "in language and law."

"At this particular event, we had women from all over the political spectrum. We had Christian conservatives, we had atheists, we had lesbians. And that's really the strength, I think, is that as long as we come together, and we agree on one thing, which is that men cannot be women and that women are being erased in language, in law, we're more than happy to lock arms and fight this and be on the front lines of the battle," she said.

"Now is the time to stand up, to be brave, to risk being ostracized by your friends and your family because the stakes are so high," Evans urged.

"We are in fear of our jobs, our livelihoods. I've had people come to my house. So the threat is real. But if we don't do something now, what is it going to be like in five years and ten years? It's going to be catastrophic."

Fox News' Hannah Grossman contributed to this report.

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