10 Disturbing Responses by LGBTQ+ Activists After the Nashville School Shooting
Tony Kinnett / Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell /
In the 10 days since a transgender individual shot and killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, many LGBTQ+ advocacy groups and progressives have posted insensitive or disturbing images online or stormed state capitols and statehouses.
These activists also threaten to retaliate against those they claim are taking away their “rights” to perform transgender procedures on minors and to hide students’ changes in names or personal pronouns from parents at public schools.
Here are 10 such incidents since the horrific massacre March 27 in Nashville, in which responding police officers shot and killed the 28-year-old shooter as she sought more victims.
1. March 28: Tennessee
In a video posted on TikTok, a transgender activist holding a makeshift spear encourages other transgender individuals in Tennessee to die fighting police officers and straights who oppose the trans agenda.
The activist says in the video: “Fight them. Hurt them. If they put their hands on you, beat them.” This individual claims that transgender people are under attack, saying, “It’s time to fight back.”
If police officers try to arrest a transgender person, the activist says, “beat them, team up, gang together, [and] get people who agree with you to come and fight.”
The person in the video also commands transgender individuals to carry weapons, attack police officers, and fight prison guards. The maker of the TikTok video “disowns” any transgender person who doesn’t agree that the trans community faces genocide threats.
2. March 28: Tennessee
In another TikTok video, a woman blames Tennessee legislation to prohibit drag shows for minors and ban transgender procedures for children under 18 for the killing of the three children and three adults at The Covenant School in Nashville.
She says: “I wonder if the parents of the victims of the Nashville shooting today would still have their children if these trans bills in Tennessee were never a thing.”
The creator of the video implores parents to blame the state government for the loss of their children in the shooting.
3. April 1: Cheyenne, Wyoming
State Rep. Karlee Provenza, a Democrat who is minority whip in the Wyoming House of Representatives, appears to refer to the violent, black-clad extremist group Antifa in a graphic on Facebook.
Provenza’s message reads: “Auntie Fa says protect trans folk against fascists and bigots.”
She pairs the message with an image of an elderly woman holding an imposing firearm.
4. March 30: Franklin, Tennessee
Gun control activists storm the Tennessee Capitol, demanding more restrictions on firearms.
Footage of what some might call an attempted insurrection shows protesters pushing state troopers, taking over the floor of the Tennessee General Assembly, and screaming through a bullhorn at state legislators.
5. March 29: Lexington, Kentucky
Police arrest 19 persons for criminal trespassing at the Kentucky Capitol while protesting a bill that would protect minors from transgender surgeries and related medical procedures.
One protester screams while wearing blue and white face paint and a deer-horn hat reminiscent of the so-called QAnon Shaman on whom the media focused in covering the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
6. April 1: Austin, Texas
As LGBTQ+ activists protest at the Texas Capitol, one masked activist makes an obscene gesture at cameras as the crowd chants, “Protect trans kids!”
Other activists, also chanting, are seen raising fists in the air and lying on the rotunda floor with their arms and legs spread.
7. March 27: Phoenix
Josselyn Berry, the spokeswoman for Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, tweets a GIF of a female character from the 1980 film “Gloria” who is wielding two guns.
The text reads: “Us when we see transphobes.”
Berry sends her tweet within a few hours of the shooting at the Christian school in Nashville.
The Arizona Freedom Caucus, made up of Republican legislators, calls Berry’s tweet a “call to violence,” and she soon resigns.
8. March 31: Tallahassee, Florida
“This fight does not end here,” a trans protester screams. “We keep showing up every single day. We keep making our voices heard—whose schools?”
The crowd responds, “Our schools!”
9. March 30: Springfield, Missouri
Rabbi Daniel Bogard of Central Reform Congregation in St. Louis, Missouri, tells the crowd: “We’ll look at our grandkids and say, ‘Here in Missouri, when fascism came knocking at our door, we said, ‘This far and no farther.’”
The rabbi then leads the crowd in several rounds of the chant “Stand up, fight back!”
10. March 31: Helena, Montana
Transgender activists stage a “die-in” at the Montana State Capitol to protest a bill that would define “sex” as meaning male or female.
On the floor of the rotunda, a crowd sings: “I am in control, my body is my own.”
Ken McIntyre contributed to this report.
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