"When police confirmed, on February 11, that the suspect in a horrific mass shooting at a high school in Tumbler Ridge was an eighteen-year-old transgender woman named Jesse Van Rootselaar, right-wing media went into overdrive, blaming the violence on acceptance of trans people and even a pride flag that was displayed at the school."
"The fact sheet points out that of 5,748 mass shootings in the United States between 2013 and 2025, just five, or 0.1 percent, were carried out by transgender people. GLAAD also says there is no evidence of increasing radicalization or violence from transgender people."
"Do you know what that flag on schools in Canada means now? Danger, danger."
A February 11 school lockdown description as a "female in a dress" triggered immediate online attacks framing the event as "transanity." Police later identified the Tumbler Ridge high school shooter as an eighteen-year-old transgender woman, prompting right-wing media to attribute the violence to acceptance of trans people and even a school pride flag. Commentators explicitly linked pride symbols to danger. Observers who track online hate note this pattern has escalated over several years, with a few high-profile incidents fueling broader false narratives. A GLAAD fact sheet found only five of 5,748 U.S. mass shootings (2013–2025) involved transgender people and reported no evidence of rising transgender violence.
Read at The Walrus
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