The Right Wing Transvestigates Another School Shooter
CNN’s poorly worded reporting results in right wing commentators yet again pushing the idea that a school shooter is trans.
by Yaakov Aldrich
A CNN article’s vague wording about a school shooter’s views on trans people has given rise to speculation and misinformation among right-wing commentators on social media. These commentators have consistently pushed a false premise that anger over lack of transgender acceptance is driving trans people to violence, and have transvestigated every new mass shooter from the last few years to provide constant proof for a right-wing narrative with no basis in reality.
Here’s what we know. Colt Gray, a 14-year-old cisgender boy, is alleged to have opened fire in Apalachee High School on September 4, killing two students and two teachers and injuring nine others, nearly all students. Police believe he used an AR-style rifle to perpetrate the shooting, and his father has been criminally charged for allegedly allowing his son to possess such a firearm. This school shooting is the worst in Georgia’s history, a state which has some of the most permissive gun laws in the nation.
On September 6, an article in CNN made a reference to writings on the messaging site Discord by an account believed to have belonged to the shooter. The story included the line “The account referenced Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter, and in separate posts expressed frustration with the acceptance of transgender people.”
The article failed to clearly state whether the Discord writings expressed frustration that society had gone too far in trans acceptance, or frustration that it had not gone far enough. Conservative influencers latched onto the latter explanation, interpreting it as a clue that Gray was himself transgender, and speculating he committed mass murder in service of trans rights, or, as they phrase it, “transgender ideology.”.
This was not true. Later the same day the Washington Post released more information about the Discord activity linked to Gray by the FBI. The full context leaves no room for misinterpretation: The Discord messages express hatred for the LGBTQ community as a motivation for mass-violence.
“The user [believed to be Gray] described his own plans to target an elementary school, while posting anti-LGBTQ+ and antisemitic views,” the Post article reads in part. “let me give you an example of why I’m doing this,” the user wrote, posting a photo of a family holding signs showing support for their trans daughter. “I need to put an end to that. … im on the edge of a lgbtq massacre””
Reuters also released a fact check on Friday, definitively addressing the false claims around Gray and the far-right conspiracy theory that has held trans people responsible for numerous other shootings.
CNN’s article was quietly edited on Friday after warnings, including one by Assigned Media via Twitter, about the line’s misappropriation. It now reads “The account referenced Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter, and in separate posts shared a desire to target an elementary school and expressed frustration that transgender people were being accepted in society.”
As of this writing, the article’s six co-authors have not responded to a request for comment about their role in the line’s original phrasing, or its recent edit.
Gray is not the first mass murderer to have his gender identity speculated about by right-wing provocateurs. Several shooters from the last few years, who committed attacks in Nashville, Houston, Iowa and elsewhere, have been folded into conservative narratives that wholly misrepresent the killers’ backgrounds and motivations.
In this case, conservative commentators fixated on the shooter’s long dyed hair in his mug shot—and the fact that his father said he was called ‘gay’ by bullies in his school—to speculate that Gray himself was transgender or gender-non-conforming. Members of the right-wing media ecosystem on X repeatedly and baselessly claimed that Gray was one in a long line of transgender mass shooters, invoking a false yet longstanding conservative narrative that gender dysphoria or medical transition cause transgender people to become more unstable and violent. Tabloids like the Daily Mail have amplified this misinformation by implying that Colt was trans in their coverage.
None of the influencers involved issued apologies or retractions in connection to their false claims about Gray, although some accounts have deleted posts after inaccuracies were pointed out. The X account @EndWokeness deleted a post on Friday, which read in part “Colt Gray shot up his school over a lack of trans acceptance” -CNN….he was part of the LGBT community…”
The popular X account @libsoftiktok posted a since-deleted post by right-wing commentator Andy Ngo, with the caption “Watch how quickly this story disappears!”
In reality, statistical evidence has consistently shown that trans people are much more likely to be the victims of violent crime and sexual assault than their cisgender counterparts, rather than being more likely to commit violence themselves.
Conservative fixations on transgender individuals as violent threats to public safety are a core element of the culture war that is only increasing in intensity as the 2024 presidential election draws near. Despite a lack of evidence for any rise in transgender violence, the narrative maintains its hold on the right-wing media sphere, and each new mass shooting in the US brings such misinformation to the forefront of conservative conversations about gun violence.
Yaakov Aldrich is a student journalist studying at Northeastern and specializing in local politics and civic policy. They can be found on Instagram at @jack_l_aldrich