Activists worry Covenant School shooting could inspire violence against trans community

[Celerity]

https://www.reckon.news/news/2023/03/activists-worry-covenant-school-shooting-could-inspire-violence-against-trans-community.html



Republicans are using the identity of the Covenant School shooter to spout transphobic rhetoric in the wake of the tragedy that killed seven people, including the suspect. Nashville Police Chief John Drake told reporters that the person responsible for the mass shooting identified as transgender.

Lawmakers like Marjorie Taylor Greene falsely connected the shooter’s gender identity with a motive for the shooting. Police say they do not have a definitive motive, however. “Everyone can stop blaming guns now,” wrote the Georgia Republican on Twitter. “How much hormones like testosterone and medications for mental illness was the transgender Nashville school shooter taking?”

Twitter subsequently restricted Greene’s account over her remarks. She was temporarily suspended from the platform for seven days. Transgender activists are concerned that such remarks from GOP lawmakers could instigate further attacks against their community, despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of mass shootings are executed by cisgender white males.

“Unfortunately, I think that we are living in a time where trans people are constantly under attack,” said Raquel Willis, a transgender activist. “So that information being lifted from the story is being used for this sprawling agenda to curtail and restrict the rights of people in the margins, particularly transgender people.”

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