In the wake of an Aug. 27 Minneapolis shooting at Annunciation Catholic School that left two children dead and 17 other children and adults wounded, conservatives have taken steps to villainize the trans community amid reports about the shooter’s identity, according to Yahoo!
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and commentator Benny Johnson were among those who shared posts alleging a pattern regarding instances of violence and trans or non-binary individuals. In addition, right-wing extremist U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, on social media, called “gender dysphoria” a “mental illness” and urged Congress to pass legislation that would “make it a FELONY to perform sex change surgeries and all forms of medications on minors.”
Court records revealed that a parent of the suspect, Robin Westman, 23, had previously filed for a legal name change that was granted in 2020, when the shooter was 17, according to NBC News. Those filings noted that the “minor child identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.” However, it is not clear how Westman identified more recently.
At a press conference, Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey urged compassion and unity, The Advocate noted. “I have heard about a whole lot of hate that’s being directed at our trans community,” Frey said. “Anybody who is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community or any other community out there has lost their sense of common humanity. Kids died. This needs to be about them.”
“While we still don’t know all the facts about what happened in Minneapolis, we must be clear on one key element: to scapegoat an entire marginalized community in a moment of such intense national grief is wrong, dangerous, and dehumanizing,” said Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf in a separate statement, adding that the real crisis is the broader epidemic of gun violence that continues to claim lives across the country.
Investigators are reviewing a manifesto-style video posted on YouTube after the attack that mentioned suicide, school shootings and the parish. FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency is investigating the assault “as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.”