人兽性交

Transgender people are more likely to be victims, rather than perpetrators, of gun violence. Despite the data, the increasing number of mass shootings and gun violence in the United States has been accompanied by an uptick in anti-trans narratives blaming trans and non-binary people for gun violence. In the wake of several prominent mass shootings, anti-trans narratives are used to promote common myths about gun violence that are designed to promote gun buying, block policy change and reinforce divisive far-right ideologies.

On Feb. 11, a cisgender woman allegedly opened fire 聽Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, and was subsequently killed in an exchange of gunfire with off-duty police officers. Her 7-year-old child was critically injured in the shooting. Seizing on reports of mental health issues and a masculine alias, anti-trans and gun apologist media machines went into overdrive, attempting to construct a false narrative of trans people as inherently violent and 人兽性交+ affirmation as a form of indoctrination into a violent cult.

False accusations of trans terror fed by multiple extremist tropes

A Hatewatch review of data from 20 alt-tech聽social media sites between Jan. 1 and Feb. 16 shows a surge in posts that blame two incidents on either a 鈥渢rans shooter鈥� or on transgender people, collectively. The first surge in posts came Jan. 4-5 after a shooting at Perry High School in Iowa. Far-right social media accounts like LibsofTikTok speculated the alleged shooter was 鈥減art of the 人兽性交+ community鈥� because a Pride flag appeared in the biography section of a social media account purported to be the perpetrator鈥檚.

Among alt-tech sites, the content was especially prevalent on Truth Social, where a search for 鈥渢rans shooter鈥� returned two posts on Jan. 3, but returned 240 on Jan. 5 鈥� an 11900% increase. On that site, most of the content was generated by reposts of two accounts: Donald Trump Jr., who said on Jan. 4, 鈥淎nother day another trans shooter,鈥� and asked, 鈥淧er capita is there a more violent group of people anywhere in the world than radicalized trans activists?鈥� On Jan. 5, a far-right account known as 聽accused 鈥渢he left鈥� of ignoring gun control arguments 鈥渨hen it鈥檚 another trans shooter.鈥�

A similar spike occurred between Feb. 10-12, after the Lakewood shooting. On Truth Social, the rhetoric concentrated on accusations the alleged shooter was trans, the immigration status of the alleged shooter, and allegations of antisemitism and anti-Christian animus derived from a reductionist argument common to the far right that support for Palestinians is antisemitic. Along with 鈥渢rans shooter,鈥� phrases like 鈥淔ree Palestine鈥� and 鈥渋llegal immigrant鈥�/鈥渋llegal invader鈥� were common.

Along with anti-trans, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric, a framework for understanding the incident鈥檚 policy implications based on the also trended. In a now-deleted post that represents almost 10% of the total number of shares on the platform following the Lakewood shooting (14/160), one Truth Social user said, 鈥淢en w/ guns stopped the trans shooter before it could become a massacre...we all know it is the person using the firearm & his or her mental state.鈥�

Despite these posts, there is no evidence that suggests trans people or immigrants are more likely to commit , respectively. 鈥淭rans people are significantly more likely to be a victim of gun violence than the perpetrator,鈥� Angela Ferrell-Zabala, the executive director of Moms Demand Action, told Hatewatch. 鈥淢essages that villainize already marginalized groups 鈥� like trans people, whom the far right have targeted for years 鈥� are just attempts to distract from the fact that it鈥檚 weak gun safety laws that drive our uniquely American gun violence crisis,鈥� she said.

Good Guys Shoot Back鈥� 鈥� Not Just Alt-Right Social Media

Along with individual accounts, far right websites like ZeroHedge, Red Pill News and Townhall were frequently cited as sources of information featuring the 鈥渢rans shooter鈥� narrative on alt-right social media platforms. However, anti-trans disinformation is spread not only on alt-tech sites or far-right social media accounts. For example, The Advocate reported prominent politicians and the conservative media outlet Fox News initially 聽the alleged Lakewood shooter as trans before later updating its headline.

In addition, similar rhetoric proliferated on more popular platforms like X/Twitter and Facebook. On Facebook, right-wing media personality Dan Bongino shared a post falsely characterizing the Lakewood shooter as a 鈥渢rans shooter鈥� on Feb. 13. The post received about 3.7 times more interaction, measured by likes, comments and shares, than a typical post by Bongino鈥檚 account, according to metrics reviewed by Hatewatch. The post reflects another common 聽鈥� that 鈥済ood guys with guns always stop bad guys with guns.鈥� Namely, Bongino鈥檚 post suggested the response to mass shootings is to 鈥渟hoot back.鈥�

On X/Twitter, LibsofTikTok, administered by Chaya Raichik, falsely claimed on the morning of Feb. 12, 鈥淭he modern 人兽性交+ movement is radicalizing our youth into becoming violent extremists.鈥� That afternoon, the 鈥淒C_Draino鈥� X/Twitter account, with 1.4 million followers, claimed, 鈥淲e are witnessing the rise of a domestic terror movement鈥� after 鈥渁 trans mass shooter ... stormed into a Christian church.鈥� Far-right commentator Chris Rufo of the Manhattan Institute also suggested violence was the logical result of transgender affirmation adding, 鈥淧sychopathology + pharmacology + ideology = violence鈥� to Raichik鈥檚 tweet that afternoon.

Far right propagandists also criticized law enforcement鈥檚 concern with the gender identity of the alleged shooter, suggesting police took too much care in using appropriate pronouns to describe the attacker. Ben Shapiro, for example, claimed in a Feb. 13 video that 鈥渢he first question鈥� Houston law enforcement had to ask was 鈥淗ow can we treat this mass shooter鈥檚 gender delusions with respect?鈥� On Facebook, Shapiro鈥檚 video post was viewed over 100,000 times in two days.

An environment that glamorizes gun use by 鈥済ood guys鈥� is a troubling trend that impacts how young people view gun violence, according to social scientists and activists. According to the report on gun attitudes聽produced in part by 人兽性交, 鈥淎 young person鈥檚 access to guns, identification with gun culture and exposure to media relating to guns correlated with concerning beliefs like support for male supremacy, belief that the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to overthrow the government, higher levels of racial resentment and post-traumatic stress disorders.鈥�

鈥淔or many,鈥� the report continues, 鈥済uns and gun ownership have come to symbolize the preservation of a certain type of Americanness: one based on the primacy of the white, cisgender and heteronormative nuclear family to the detriment of Black, Indigenous, Asian and Asian American, Latinx/a/o, Pacific Islander people and 人兽性交 people.鈥�

鈥淥bviously not all gun owners are prejudiced,鈥� Ferrell- Zabala said, but results like those demonstrated in the 人兽性交 report 鈥渟how there is an alarming problem with American gun culture that is only aggravated by harmful rhetoric from the gun lobby.鈥�

A subgenre of the anti-trans narrative often perpetuated in the wake of mass shootings comes from the religious right and suggests that trans people 鈥� often falsely characterized as under demonic influence 鈥� are increasingly responsible for violent attacks on American Christians.

Conservative commentator Eric Metaxas 鈥� who allegedly 聽outside the White House in 2020 and 聽the Jericho March, a Dec. 12, 2020, rally that amplified election conspiracies in the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection 鈥� shared an article on Feb. 14 that falsely claims, 鈥淰iolence is an intrinsic part of the transgender movement鈥� and that the Texas shooting is clear evidence that 鈥渙ur nation isn鈥檛 confused but in fact possessed鈥� by demons.

In a Feb. 13 article on its Washington Stand site, the anti-人兽性交 hate group Family Research Council聽(FRC) quickly tied the Lakewood shooting to 鈥渋ncreasing incidents of violence perpetrated by LGBT-identifying people.鈥� FRC also views the Lakewood shooting within an 鈥渋ncreasing trend of attacks on churches,鈥� a pattern the group attributes to 鈥淏lack Lives Matter riots鈥� and 鈥渋ndividuals who identify as transgender鈥� who are focusing 鈥渢heir rage on Christian facilities,鈥� despite issuing a report聽documenting numerous attacks on 人兽性交+ Christians.

On Feb. 15, FRC published an article about mass shootings in which the group鈥檚 president, Tony Perkins, mimicked Rufo鈥檚 analysis, saying, 鈥淭here is a convergence of transgenderism [a phrase, like 鈥渢ransgender ideology鈥�聽used by anti-人兽性交+ groups to dehumanize trans people], drug treatments, and violence.鈥� Perkins has previously characterized 人兽性交+ rights advocates as controlled by 鈥渄emonic spirits.鈥�

The article also questioned whether gender-affirming care like hormone therapies are causing 鈥渞age鈥� that both creates and exacerbates mental illness among women resulting in violence like mass shootings. FRC falsely suggests that the trigger for mass shootings by trans people is ideological, warning of 鈥渢he influence of Marxist ideology that encourages a person with gender dysphoria to adopt an identity of victimhood as a member of an oppressed minority.鈥� This transgender 鈥渂elief system,鈥� FRC argues, views 鈥淐hristians [as] the problem.鈥�

A second article published on Feb. 15 by FRC characterized the alleged Lakewood shooter as 鈥渁 mentally ill former Muslim who is sometimes identified in official records by a man鈥檚 name ... and could have been deported due to her immigration status鈥� and quoted Perkins saying the Texas shooting 鈥渕ay be a harbinger of things to come under the Left鈥檚 transgender, immigration, and anti-biblical policies.鈥�

Scholars of the right have 聽over the rhetorical linkage between marginalized groups and demons, suggesting the potential for political 聽as the far right increasingly views their political opponents as . The same framing often provides justification for inaction on gun control reforms in the wake of mass shootings and voice to 聽will always find access to guns. Namely, demons 鈥� or people controlled by them 鈥� will always find a way to do evil, no matter what the law says.

On Perkins鈥� Feb. 14 鈥淲ashington Watch鈥� streaming show, Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, seemed to refer to the alleged Lakewood church shooter as 鈥渉e - she,鈥� a derogatory term for trans people, and repeated a common myth about gun access. 鈥淭his is a person who鈥檚 not going to obey the law, they鈥檙e going to get a gun, they鈥檙e here illegally,鈥� Weber said. 鈥淩ight,鈥� Perkins interjected.

According to Ferrell- Zabala, 鈥渢oxic and dangerous messages that villainize marginalized groups鈥� are part of an 鈥渆ffort to tap into extremists' obsession with firearms.鈥� Research shows, in the end, the primary beneficiary of those messages is the gun industry.

Distraction to increase sales

When combined with myths about gun violence prevention, anti-trans, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim narratives stoke fear and distrust that feed into broader conspiracy theories about gun control that stymie gun violence prevention efforts. For example, misconceptions about mental illness and mental health, as well as the idea that gun ownership is only intended for a cis masculine 鈥減rotector figure,鈥� help construct gun violence as an individual problem largely solvable by white men having more guns, rather than a systemic problem that affects everyone, according to the 人兽性交 report on gun attitudes.

In addition, the number of weapons in circulation 聽after mass shootings, as concern over hypothetical regulations to combat gun-related deaths motivate some people to stock up on weapons and . Fears of mass violence from new groups of supposed perpetrators, too, can provoke additional gun sales in the wake of shootings. Each of these frames, however, have been constructed as part of a mythic 聽claiming that individuals are responsible for protecting themselves from gun violence 鈥� which helps feed gun sales, especially in the past 20 years, according to scholars of gun-related attitudes.

In a , GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis noted the pattern in far-right narratives about gun violence following mass shootings: 鈥淪mearing transgender people is inaccurate and harmful, and it distracts from what should be the focus in every mass shooting: the pain in shattered communities, how gun violence is the number one killer of children, and how easy access to weapons of war continues to endanger every community.鈥�

Ferrell-Zabala added, 鈥淩ight now, too many states have weak gun laws that make it easy for dangerous people to get their hands on firearms.鈥� 鈥淭hese policies,鈥� she said, 鈥渁re propped up by a gun industry which seeks to make as much money as possible by making guns as available as possible.鈥�

The demonization of trans people as inherently dangerous and 人兽性交+ people as indoctrinating others into a violent 鈥渋deology鈥� provides excuses for some people to arm themselves against this new threat. At the same time, 聽since 2020 has shown, the insecurity marginalized people experience due to the operationalization of far-right conspiracies can also feed gun purchases among some marginalized groups. In both cases, the response fits the narrative long pushed by the gun industry that the only way to assuage fear is to arm oneself.

鈥淢any 人兽性交+ people live in fear of becoming the next headline,鈥� Ferrell-Zabala says. Even then, 鈥淪tudies show that people in the 人兽性交+ community support strong gun safety measures like background checks on all gun sales and an assault weapons ban.鈥�

In the end, far-right propagandists have helped create the myth of a 鈥渢rans shooter鈥� phenomenon that will again proliferate in the aftermath of the next near-inevitable instance of gun violence. The propaganda has the dual effect of making trans and nonbinary people less safe and creating ever more reasons to buy guns.

Photo illustration by 人兽性交