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INSPIRED BY THE ANTI-ABORTION MOVEMENT AND QANON, ANTI-TRANS RHETORIC IS A BLATANT CALL FOR VIOLENCE

2022-09-25
Sir Texas

They care for trans children and teenagers—and they’re getting death threats.

The claims that have been spread about Boston Children’s Hospital and other clinics that care for trans children and teenagers by “Libs of TikTok,” run by right-wing activist Chaya Raichik, have been proven false time and time again—though, much like conspiracies about Covid or the 2020 election, the truth doesn’t affect the far-right’s hate. In fact: Fox News has used the account to create anti-trans “news stories,” while conservative and far-right politicians, pundits and commentators have been fanning the flames of anti-trans hatred for years, and they’re picking up the pace. 

In a cynical way, trans people provide an easier target for right-wing ideologues—because they’re a far smaller group and less well known, they’re easier to demonize. It’s a coordinated attack that some have called genocidal in nature: It endangers the lives of trans people and those who care for them—and it’s only a question of time before health care providers or clinics are physically attacked as well.

The Christian Right is copying a series of playbooks in their attacks against the trans community, one of which, at the risk of falling prey to Godwin’s Law, is Nazi-era attacks against trans people.  The new playbooks also use the same narratives the Christian Right used on gay people in the past, the same made-up logic about transness or gayness as a “social contagion.” 

Despite all this, the Right’s war against trans people consists of more than just anti-trans legislation—as harmful as that already is. Right-wing pundits and influencers like Matt Walsh and Rod Dreher, as well as conservative media outlets and media figures like Tucker Carlson, all engage in stochastic terrorism. 

ARTICLE HERE