Business as Usual in Right Wing Media After the Club Q Massacre

The anti-trans moral panic has a body count, but you’d never know it if you confine yourself to right wing outlets.

by Evan Urquhart

We thought it would be instructive to have a look at how some of the outlets we cover regularly are responding to the shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs that left 5 dead, two of whom were transgender. We kept an open mind, as always:

one of these things is not like the others

Fox News shows no signs of recognizing or taking stock in their role in the climate that led to 5 deaths in Colorado. To the contrary, they are more interested in trans women in athletics, an issue which failed to provide major gains for the GOP in the midterm elections. Tucker Carlson, likewise, is as evil as ever, pushing lies about trans youth which contribute to the attitude of hysteria that results in violence from extremists who are taken in by the misinformation.

How about the Washington Examiner? Their story on the shooting does not even mention two of the victims were transgender. Again, there is no sign of recognizing the role their coverage has played in creating the atmosphere where something like the Club Q massacre was inevitable. They seem to have gone an unusual number of days without posting anti-trans insanity, but today the Examiner is back on their bullshit.

Does the unusual five day gap in coverage indiate any sort of moral qualms on the part of the Examiner’s editorial staff about the tone of their transgender coverage? It’s hard to say, but unlikely as the massacre happened on Sunday the 20th and by the 21st the Examiner seems to be back to business as usual.

AT best the right wing media do not care how many trans people die, at worst they are intentionally exacerbating a situation that they know will lead to more violence of the sort in Colorado Springs last weekend. What remains to be seen is if the public will finally see this for what it is and reject this irresponsible anti-trans coverage.