In his recent monologue on Fox News, Tucker Carlson made a controversial statement by asserting that transgender people are the "natural foe" of Christianity.
According to Media ITE, he claims that the trans movement seeks to "claim dominion over nature" and is, therefore, opposed to Christianity, which he believes celebrates the natural order. Carlson went on to reference a recent tragic incident in which a suspect who happened to be transgender killed several people at a school in Nashville.
Carlson blamed the media for insinuating that Christians were the victims of this crime because they had supposedly infringed on the rights of trans people. This statement has been met with widespread criticism from many who believe it is inappropriate to scapegoat an entire community in response to a tragic event.
Tucker Carlson on the Recent Mass Shooting in a Christian School
Tucker Carlson claimed that Christianity and transgenderism were on a "collision course" and that the Nashville shooter, who happened to be transgender, represented a larger trend of violence against Christians within the trans community. Rolling Stone reported that he suggested that law enforcement was withholding information about the shooter's real intentions to cover up this alleged targeting of Christians.
However, the assertion that there is a trend of violence against Christians by the trans community is false. The number of mass shootings carried out by non-binary or trans individuals is less than one percent of all such incidents in the United States since 2009. LGBTQ individuals are more often the victims of targeted mass violence than perpetrators. While the actions of the Nashville shooter are reprehensible, it is not accurate to suggest that they represent the broader trans community.
Other Figures Gave their Views on Gender Identity to Violence Against Christians
Other right-wing figures have also used the gender identity of the Nashville shooter to promote anti-trans and anti-LGBT sentiment following the tragedy. The article in News Week states that Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist, tweeted a video interview of progressive political commentator Cenk Uygur suggesting that trans-Americans should be armed because they are at risk of being attacked by "right-wing lunatics." Kirk responded to Uygur's comments by saying that the opposite is true.
Data from the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data and the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research shows that LGBT individuals are more than twice as likely to experience gun violence compared to their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts.
Candace Owens, a conservative author, shared an image on Twitter that circulated showing four trans or non-binary individuals responsible for mass shootings, claiming that addressing mental illness is more important than gender affirmation surgery. Owens has previously referred to gender affirmation surgery as "mutilation."
However, statistics show that most mass shooters in recent years have been straight, cisgender, white men. Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit organization advocating for gun control, has reported over 300 mass shootings in the U.S. since 2009, with less than 1% of perpetrators identifying as trans or non-binary.
Related Article: Nashville Christian School Shooting Takes 6 Lives Including 3 Students; Shooter Found Dead at the Scene
