A Twitter profile by the name of Trans Resistance Network wrote on Monday that “anti-trans hate” has “consequences” in relation to the killing of six people at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee.
The woman who killed six people — including three children — in Nashville “felt he had no other effective way to be seen than to lash out by taking the life of others,” according to the Trans Resistance Network’s statement.
The statement alleged that right-wing figures promote “anti-trans hate” by “calling for nothing less than the genocidal eradication of trans people from society”:
The Trans Resistance Network has been notified the shooter involved in today’s church school shooting in Nashville, TN, was a person identifying as transgender, known from online profiles as Aiden or Aubrey Hale (He, Him).
While it is not our policy to engage publicly with news media, we believe this moment calls for a thoughtful response from our collective.
We point out that today’s incident in Nashville, TN is not one tragedy, but two.
The first tragedy today is the loss of life of three children and adults. We extend our deepest sympathies and heartfelt prayers to those families dealing with the loss of loved ones. There is nothing we can offer that will comfort the hurt, or ease the sorrow. We mourn with you.
The second and more complex tragedy is that Aiden or Aubrey Hale, who felt he had no other effective way to be seen than to lash out by taking the life of others, and consequence, himself.
We do not claim to know the individual or have access to their inner thoughts and feelings. We do know that life for transgender people is very difficult, and made more difficult in the preceding months by a virtual avalanche of anti-trans legislation, and public callouts by Right Wing personalities and political figures calling for nothing less than the genocidal eradication of trans people from society.
Many transgender people deal with anxiety, depression, thoughts of suicide, and PTSD from the near constant drum beat of anti-trans hate, lack of acceptance from family members and certain religious institutions, denial of our existence, and calls for de-transition and forced conversion.
All of these factors contribute to a population that is medically under-served and who often face anti-trans bias while accessing care leading to significant physical and mental health disparities. Hate has consequences.
It is a testament to the inner strength and beauty of transgender people, that despite the overwhelming odds of homelessness, job discrimination, and constant anti-trans bigotry and violence, so many of us continue to persevere, survive, and even thrive. We will not be eradicated or erased.
We remind the news media to respect the self-identified pronouns of transgender individuals who come across your desk. Aiden Hale self identified with “He, Him” pronouns on forward facing sites. We also urge you to avoid pandering to those individuals on the Right who will use this double-tragedy to torment fear and terror of transgender people in order to advance a political agenda of transgender elimination. Biased and sensationalized coverage of these viewpoints is both irresponsible and reprehensible.
Requests for interviews with be referred back to this statement.
The Trans Resistance Network describes itself on its WordPress site as committed to “the survival of gender diverse people and families through strategic coordination of community defense, mutual-aid, and alternative systems of gender affirming care,” adding that “trans rights are human rights.”
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter @rkraychik.