In his remarks to a National Rifle Association (NRA) event, Donald Trump vowed to use the full force of the federal government to investigate gender-affirming care for transgender Americans, a statement that elevates his anti-trans rhetoric and Republican threats to LGBT+ people ahead of 2024 elections.
There have been more than 155 mass shootings and more than 12,000 gun-related deaths in 2023, which the GOP presidential candidate blamed on a “mental health problem” and a “spiritual problem” in his remarks in Indiana on 14 April.
He said he would direct the US Food and Drug Administration to study the effects of gender-affirming healthcare and so-called “trans ideology” on mental health and “violence”, should he be elected, amplifying a baseless and dangerous narrative that transgender people are responsible for violent attacks across the country.
“I think most of us already know the answer,” he added.
Mr Trump also suggested that “genetically engineered cannabis”, rather than guns, fuels gun violence, and accused Democratic officials of “pushing the transgender cult” on young people while “persecuting Christians” and “demonising patriots”.
“Anti-equality extremist politicians, led by Trump, continue to go out of their way to attack transgender Americans rather than address the real issues impacting all of us – notably the scourge of gun violence, the leading killer of children and teens in America,” Human Rights Campaign national campaign director Geoff Wetrosky said in a statement.
Mr Trump instead “pandered to the gun lobby and again focused his ire on an already marginalised population in a desperate attempt to rile up his base”, added Mr Wetrosky.
The remarks made by the twice-impeached, criminally charged former president echo similar statements made by his far-right allies, such as Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and his eldest son Donald Trump Jr, in the wake of a mass shooting inside a Nashville school last month, as prominent far-right voices seized on the assailant’s alleged gender identity to promote legislation targeting transgender people and their healthcare.
States are increasingly advancing legislation and policies to restrict or eliminate access to what the Human Rights Campaign describes as medically necessary and potentially life-saving medical care, and to other support systems for transgender youth.
At least 10 states have enacted laws or policies banning gender-affirming care for young trans people, and more than a dozen others are considering similar measures. More than half of all transgender young people in the US between the ages of 13 and 17 are at risk of losing access to age-appropriate and medically necessary gender-affirming healthcare in their home state, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
At least 20 states have also enacted bans against transgender women and girls participating in school sports that align with their gender.
Mr Trump’s anti-trans platform would also criminally punish doctors who provide gender-affirming care to transgender youth, and endorses a national ban on transgender women and girls participating in women’s and girls’ sports.
All but four of the 172 shooters identified in mass shootings since 1996 were cisgender men, according to The Violence Project. All extremist-related murders in 2022 were committed by right-wing extremists, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Transgender people are four times more likely than cisgender people to be the victim of a violent crime, including rape and assault, according to a 2021 study published by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Killings of transgender people more than doubled from 2017 to 2021, when at least 59 transgender people were killed in homicides, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.
Political debate surrounding transgender people has also negatively affected the mental health of an overwhelming majority of young trans and non-binary people, according to recent polling from The Trevor Project and Morning Consult.
The results of a wide-ranging survey by The Washington Post and KFF found that a vast majority of transgender Americans are satisfied with their lives after transitioning.
