Trans people didn’t ask to get pulled into any of this

Nothing good is going to come from the murder of far-right conservative commentator and activist Charlie Kirk. As we wade through a news cycle ripe with discourse, dissent and high-stakes emotion, that much most people can agree on. 

Kirk, an influential ally of U.S. president Donald Trump and the co-founder of the conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA, was shot and killed during an event at a university campus in Utah on Wednesday. A sniper fired a single shot from a nearby building in what officials are calling a targeted shooting of the 31-year-old. As of writing, the shooter is still at large, but Kirk’s death has sparked a firestorm of discourse about everything from gun control to political violence to the future of the United States. 

The fire is fuelled further by who Kirk was and what he stood for, particularly as a figurehead for many of American conservatism’s anti-LGBTQ2S+, anti-immigrant and Christian nationalist perspectives. 

This is not simply an isolated act of violence. It is a spark amidst a volatile moment for American democracy, that could set some very dangerous things in motion. Trump officials are working to canonize Kirk with statues and medals in the same breath as threatening immigrants who post online about him. Far-right activists are rounding up lists of the personal information of people who dare to post anything critical of Kirk online. 

Amidst all of this, trans people are suddenly at the centre of attention as speculation and social media. And we have every right to be worried about what that means, because any connection that bad actors can draw between trans people and this act of violence will be used to harm and threaten us.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that bullet casings bearing “anti-fascist” and “transgender ideology” were found at the site of the shooting. The initial WSJ story lacked specificity—including what a nebulous phrase like “transgender ideology” even means—and was not immediately corroborated by any reputable news outlet.

In fact, even the New York Times—which has faced controversy of its own for its coverage of trans issues—urged caution at taking the WSJ story at face value, suggesting that senior law enforcement officials said that the report was not verified, did not match other summaries of evidence and may have been misinterpreted. The WSJ has since added a note of caution to their report.

In a statement Thursday, the Trans Journalists Association urged the media to use caution in covering this report and others like it. 

“News organizations should be as transparent as possible about how details about the engravings are being confirmed, both to increase accuracy in reporting and build trust with audiences in a breaking news environment,” the statement reads. “As it is often unclear what actions or political positions the phrase actually refers to—not unlike how ‘the homosexual agenda’ is an amorphous term that has no real definition—reporters should be careful about using this term because it is used exclusively to attack a minority group for political gain.”

These connections between trans people and Kirk’s death were being drawn even before the WSJ story dropped. In the hours following the shooting, media reported that Kirk was spouting anti-trans rhetoric in the seconds before his death. Video from the event shows an audience member asking him how many mass shootings were committed by trans people in the U.S. in the past 10 years and Kirk responded “too many.” Shortly after, Kirk was shot. 

While this information is certainly relevant to the story, it is notable how many publications highlighted it specifically amidst the breathless coverage of the hours after shooting—whether consciously or unconsciously linking what he was saying about trans people with why Kirk was shot. 

Then today, the WSJ story drew another link between trans people and the shooter—whether real or not—and the story exploded across right-wing and mainstream media alike. Head over to Elon Musk’s X and you’ll find a slew of voices from influential Trump allies to internet trolls calling for a crackdown on trans people as a result. Google searches for “transgender ideology” spiked in the U.S. today, particularly centred around Utah, where the shooting took place, and linked to searches for Kirk’s name. 

Kirk’s very public views on LGBTQ2S+ issues, and trans people in particular, were abhorrent. He pushed back against gender-affirming care, inclusive education and the very existence of trans people. He weaponized the idea of “protecting children” from LGBTQ2S+ people. He called for gay people to be “stoned,” as they were in the Bible. He was recently the guest on Democratic California governor Gavin Newsom’s infamous podcast episode where Newsom first shared his own anti-trans views. He has undoubtedly worked for many years to make the lives of LGBTQ2S+ people worse in America. People talking about Kirk’s legacy right now can’t ignore that. 

All of that doesn’t mean that a trans person—let alone the whole trans community—had anything to do with this act of violence. Yet Kirk’s death is going to further galvanize anti-trans hate in America and around the world, and we should be justifiably worried. 

Research repeatedly shows that the vast majority of mass shootings are perpetrated by cis men. Analysis from the Violence Prevention Project on mass shootings in America found that cis men were the perpetrators in 98 percent of shootings, female shooters accounted for 2 percent of attacks and trans people accounted for less than 1 percent. 

And yet speculation that the perpetrator was trans has become an all-too-common trend following tragedies like this. Every time there is a horrific act of violence, the far-right media machine starts to churn speculating that the perpetrator could be trans. And even in the isolated cases where they are—such as last month’s shooting at a Minnesota Catholic school—the act of violence has nothing to do with their gender identity. 

As Xtra columnist Katelyn Burns wrote of the Minnesota shooter earlier this week: “Never mind that the shooter was part of an online cult that has produced numerous mass shooters in the past and worships past mass shooters like Anders Breivik, a Norwegian neo-Nazi mass shooter—it must have been the hormones. Can’t let pesky facts get in the way of compelling propaganda.”

While we still don’t know the identity of the person who killed Kirk, the actual evidence we do have—including photos released by law enforcement of a person of interest—and the long-term research and trends point to this being a crime committed by a cis man against a cis man. Just as was the case when Trump himself was shot last year. 

Even if the actual facts reveal something slightly different, that doesn’t change the dangerous path this narrative falsely linking trans people and political violence has started on—a narrative that was rolling long before Kirk was shot yesterday. It’s already picked up more detritus, as X users continue to speculate on the shooter’s gender identity using AI-generated images. It’s already become unstoppable.

Nothing good will come of this. Far-right media personalities in Canada are calling out drag queens who posted about Kirk. The LibsofTikTok account’s entire feed today is singling out individuals critical of Kirk for harassment. The DNC and several Black universities were targeted by bomb threats today. In all honesty, I’m scared. A lot of trans people and our allies are—as are other marginalized groups. We now have to live in fear that this violent incident will further galvanize the wrong people. 

When we speak out publically, or protest or march in the streets for our rights, we have to worry that the wrong person will get the wrong idea and come and hurt us. That they will see it as “revenge” for Kirk’s death, or as justified retribution. Political violence begets more political violence. 

Following the shooting in Minnesota, government officials started talking about taking away trans people’s rights to own guns. Any connection they can draw between us and this act of violence will be used to strip more of our rights, or threaten us more in our homes, our schools and our communities. 

A lot is going to be said in the coming weeks and months about what happened to Charlie Kirk. But when it comes to what this means for trans people, nothing good will come from this.