The Department of Justice said on Monday that it would probe “deeply concerning” videos of a Texas A&M student being asked to leave class after pushing back on radical gender theory.
The videos, obtained and shared by Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison and first reported by The Daily Wire, show a student confronting Dr. Melissa McCoul during a children’s literature class after McCoul pushed leftist views on sex and gender. In one clip, the student told McCoul that the course material went against President Donald Trump’s orders on gender and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“This also goes against, not only myself, but a lot of people’s religious beliefs,” the student added. “And so I am not going to participate in this because it’s not legal.”
McCoul told the student that her teaching on transgenderism and other LGBT issues was “biologically true,” adding that she did not believe that the student would be able to stop her from teaching those ideas.
“Because I do have the legal and ethical authority [and] professional expertise in this classroom,” McCoul told the student. “It’s time for you to leave.”
Harmeet Dhillon, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, reposted Harrison’s thread on X, writing, “This is deeply concerning. The @CivilRights will look into this!”
This is deeply concerning. The @CivilRights will look into this! https://t.co/OSy0uEtfCv
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) September 8, 2025
The children’s literature class devoted considerable attention to sex, gender, and “queerness,” according to slides reviewed by The Daily Wire. One slide argued that it’s appropriate to teach LGBT issues to young children, stating, “Thinking that homosexuality or queer people are always ‘x-rated’ is an effect of heteronormativity, the idea that heterosexual or straight is normal as well as normative.” Another slide was titled “Let’s talk gender in children’s lit!” and argued that “Childhood is the time for figuring out how to be a boy, girl, man, woman, or another gender.”
“Isn’t [talking about queerness] way too ‘adult’ for little kids? Well, no.” pic.twitter.com/hb7C3LWzeF
— Brian Harrison (@brianeharrison) September 8, 2025
Harrison told The Daily Wire that the professor’s teachings were “transgender indoctrination,” adding, “This is one of the clearest and most disgusting examples of taxpayer abuse and the weaponization of Texans’ tax money against them, against their values, against their children.”
The Texas Republican sent letters to Governor Greg Abbott, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Education Secretary Linda McMahon, asking for the state and federal government to take action against Texas A&M.
A university official told The Daily Wire, “We are aware of an isolated incident in which a summer course’s content was misaligned with the course curriculum. The college took steps in collaboration with faculty to ensure all course content aligns with the course curriculum moving forward.”
In a recorded phone call between the student and Texas A&M President Mark Welsh, the president stated that the university would review the children’s literature course and discuss providing more detailed descriptions of any classes that teach radical gender theory. Welsh told the student that “there’s not a problem” teaching LGBT literature as long as the university makes it clear it will be part of a class.