How fossil fuel billionaires are funding the anti-trans movement

A report from “HEATED” and Atmos found sizable donations from fossil fuel companies and billionaires to anti-trans organizations

The anti-trans movement in the U.S. is being funded by fossil fuel companies and billionaires.

That’s according to a report from HEATED and Atmos, which reviewed an independent analysis of 45 groups advancing anti-trans lobbying efforts and their financial ties. The analysis found that a whopping 80 percent of them received sizable donations from fossil fuel companies or billionaires who made their fortunes from the oil and gas industry.

Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom, one of the leaders in the anti-trans movement in the U.S., received more than $50,000 from Shell between 2013 and 2022. Fracking billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks poured millions of dollars into right-wing outlets pushing anti-trans messaging, including PragerU and The Daily Wire.

It’s unclear what percentage of these organizations’ funding comes from the oil and gas industry, or if those donors are their primary funders. But the connection that does exist is worth noting, especially considering the ways LGBTQ2S+ people are vulnerable to the impacts of climate disasters.

Analysis co-author Vivian Taylor told the publications that the fossil fuel industry has a vested interest in funding anti-trans panic to distract the public from “the very real and ongoing risks” of climate change. Just last week, U.S. President Donald Trump called climate change the “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” at the UN General Assembly.

Cody Corrall is Xtra's Social Video Producer. Their work has appeared in BuzzFeed News, TechCrunch, the Chicago Reader, CINE-FILE, Thrillist, Paste Magazine, and other places on the world wide web. He lives in Chicago and speaks English.

Senior editor Mel Woods is an English-speaking Vancouver-based writer, editor and audio producer and a former associate editor with HuffPost Canada. A proud prairie queer and ranch dressing expert, their work has also appeared in Vice, Slate, the Tyee, the CBC, the Globe and Mail and the Walrus.

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