'You can't run': ASU investigating after queer instructor confronted by Turning Point USA 'crew'

Arizona State University police say they are investigating an incident in which a queer faculty member was confronted and injured on the school's campus.

An official with the conservative group Turning Point USA said late Thursday night that two of their "crew members" were involved in the altercation.

The incident occurred Wednesday afternoon in Tempe, according to police spokesperson Adam Wolfe.

Wolfe said security footage shows two people — a "reporter" and a "cameraman," according to Turning Point USA — followed David Boyles, a writing instructor in ASU's English Department, while filming him. Turning Point USA did not name the two people following an inquiry by The Arizona Republic about their identities.

In a statement on social media, Turning Point USA identified the people as affiliates of FRONTLINES, an online show the group produces. The show recently launched a "Child Safety Unit" that "takes aim at hunting down predators for preying and grooming minors," according to an announcement emailed to people on the group's mailing list last month.

Accusing LGBTQ+ people of pedophilia and "grooming" young people to be victims of sexual abuse has reemerged in recent years as a common political attack by far-right extremists.

Boyles wrote in an Instagram post that Wednesday's incident happened immediately after he finished teaching a class on LGBTQ+ youth in pop culture and politics. The two people began yelling at him about Drag Story Hour Arizona, he said. Drag Story Hour Arizona is an organization he co-founded in 2019 that aims to bring "inclusive story times" to children and support diversity in early literacy, according to its website.

"One filmed on his phone while the other shouted horrible and incendiary things at me, repeating standard right-wing nonsense about Drag Story Hour and also accusing me personally of pedophilia and hating America," Boyles wrote.

Video posted by Turning Point USA shows that its "crew members" approached Boyles. He said he would not answer their questions, but they continued to follow him and film him, asking him when he "became obsessed with sex education," why children should be present at shows where people "shake their genitals and fake breasts" and how he became "attracted to minors." At times, the video jumps ahead and doesn't show the entire interaction.

"You can't run," one of the Turning Point USA affiliates told Boyles in the video.

Wolfe said one of the people eventually shoved Boyles to the pavement, injuring him, and then fled.

But Turning Point USA officials say Boyles made the first move by "lunging, pushing and clawing" at the person filming.

On Instagram, Boyles said that he moved to block the camera "knowing that they were filming in order to post this online and inspire even more harassment against me."

"When I did so, the other one jumped me from behind," he said.

Turning Point USA's video shows Boyles moving close to the person filming before cutting out, but doesn't clearly show whether he pushed or scratched the person. The group said Boyles' "assault" disconnected a wire, causing the video to end at that point.

"After reviewing the footage it’s clear Mr. Boyles was not 'attacked,' nor was he 'jumped' or 'slammed,' rather Mr. Boyles initiated a physical altercation," Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet said.

Boyles wrote his wounds are "relatively minor," but he is still "angry, violated, embarrassed and despairing at the fact that we have come to normalize this kind of harassment and violence."

"Stop coddling these ... terrorists," he wrote. "Call them what they are. ... These people should be shunned from society."

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Boyles blames 'right-wing propaganda' for attack

Boyles told police who responded to the scene that he believed he was "targeted," Wolfe said.

He is included on Turning Point USA's "professor watchlist," which the group describes as consisting of "professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom." Earlier this year, ASU President Michael Crow asked Turning Point USA to remove ASU faculty from the list because of harassing messages.

Boyles was also recently the subject of a post on the website AZ Free News. The post discussed Boyles' involvement in Drag Story Hour Arizona and, based on a blog entry Boyles wrote about suggesting new titles to his local library, said Boyles advocates for "people to plant pornographic LGBTQ+ banned books in local libraries."

The AZ Free News website says its mission is to "foster independent journalism and provide people ... with access to news and information not covered by traditional corporate media." In a statement to The Arizona Republic, Boyles called it a "right-wing propaganda website."

Before Turning Point USA said publicly that the two people involved in the incident were its "crew members," Boyles told The Republic in a statement that he blamed the conservative group and AZ Free News for spreading "inflammatory and bigoted rhetoric" that provoked the confrontation.

AZ Free News states on its website that it is funded by the nonprofit Arizona Freedom Foundation. Financial records from 2021 for the organization list Scot Mussi, president and executive director of the conservative Arizona Free Enterprise Club, as the foundation's director.

Mussi and AZ Free News Managing Editor Eric Porteous did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Republic.

In social media posts, Boyles also criticized ASU. He said he is "not holding my breath" for "much of a response" from the university because its leaders have "made the university a safe space for bigots of all kinds, partly in pursuit of donations from right-wing billionaires and partly because they are just cowards."

In one post, Boyles referenced a Republic article from November 2022 about a fundraiser at ASU that featured Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Money from the fundraiser went to the Center for American Institutions, which is part of ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, according to the ASU Foundation.

ASU spokesperson Chris Fiscus told The Republic that the university is focused on "finding out what happened and finding those responsible."

Police to investigate if 'bias or prejudice' was motive

Wolfe said ASU's ongoing police investigation will include probing whether "bias or prejudice" was a factor, he said.

"Obviously, we know part of their motive," he said. "We want to try to figure out if that's the whole motive... why did they feel so brazen to come onto campus and confront this professor?"

If the investigation finds that Boyles was targeted because of his sexuality, aggravated assault charges could be brought, Wolfe said. That could result in a greater penalty.

"The bias is the aggravating factor," Wolfe said.

Sasha Hupka covers higher education for The Arizona Republic. Do you have a tip on Arizona's universities, community colleges or trade schools? Reach her at sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SashaHupka. Follow her on Instagram or Threads: @sashahupkasnaps.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU police investigating after queer instructor assaulted in Tempe