Southern Queer Newsroom
As soon as I heard Charlie Kirk had been shot, I prayed the person who did it wasn't trans.
Statistically, it's an odd thing to worry about, since trans people have committed a total of two mass shootings since 2015 out of a list full of white men killing people in schools and mosques. The trans person who most recently conducted a mass shooting was deep into esoteric fascism and neo-Nazi death cults sanctifying mass shooters, which is unfortunately common among other mass shooters. The problem is not trans people, it's the fascism.
Republicans are instead charging headlong into conspiracy theories about how the Radical Left are behind all mass violence and need to be exterminated. Within minutes of the shooting, giant conservative and fascist media accounts were screaming for blood. Truth is routinely ignored in favor of pushing their narratives. Eric Trump's complaint that "the bullets are only flying one way" is emblematic of this. Two former Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota were murdered and conservatives laughed. Paul Pelosi, husband of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, was assaulted by a fascist with a hammer, and conservatives responded by calling Mr. Pelosi gay, while Kirk himself called for listeners to bail the perpetrator out.
Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who just included multiple anti-trans amendments to the American defense budget bill, claimed all Democrats were responsible for Kirk's murder. When asked by a reporter if all Republicans were responsible for the deaths of the two Minnesota Democrats, she scoffed at the idea of paying those dead any attention.
This is not a new reaction for the political right. The reactions to Charlie Kirk's shooting have in many instances been indistinguishable from Cracker Barrel's announcement that they were changing their logo. I cannot view this as anything other than the capture of the Republican Party and political conservatism at large by fascist forces. They want violence. Eric Trump's claim earlier was not a call for everyone to put down the guns – it was a call for more conservatives to pick theirs up. As long as the Right wants to cling to political violence, this will only get worse.
All of this has, understandably, left the trans and queer people in my life absolutely terrified or convinced the end is right around the corner. I won't say I haven't felt it either. I spent most of a recent support group meeting alone, watching the doors to the building for anyone coming in with a weapon. It did not cool my nerves or help me with the swelling panic in my chest. If anything, it just gave me too much time to worry unproductively.
I am very worried about the security at future Pride events even more so than I have been in recent years. I'm worried more of us are going to be the victim of hate crimes more and more often. Particularly, I fear this is going to push the population towards becoming even more insular, which leaves us reliant on some of the worst power brokers in the scene. I will not blame anyone for becoming more private and less trusting in the wake of this killing.
Personally, I will not accept that the world is ended, the gates are shut, and that there is no hope for a better world.
I won't deny that we're in a very bad spot right now because of the political violence becoming normalized by conservatives. I also think there are much better ways to help yourself and your community than getting a weapon. Knocking doors for a pro-trans candidate in your state legislature is already going to be more useful to you and everyone around you than grabbing an AR-15. Going out and living life normally in defiance of those who would see us exterminated is a greater act of resistance than anything else. Learning to treat a wound can serve you well everywhere.
The fact of the matter is that fascists are the ones doing this violence. While writing this, it came out that the alleged shooter is a cis man who possibly followed Nick Fuentes, another fascist who has run into hot water recently by attacking Trump. The current split in the fascist movement seems to be whether or not covering up the Epstein files is good. Kirk believed it was, and Fuentes believes it wasn't. I figured it would most likely be someone who fully believed in the most extreme versions of the Epstein conspiracy theories, so this is not surprising to me. It even seems like Republican legislators and conservative media stars are backing away from the "kill the liberals" beat at the moment.
I can't promise everything will be okay. What I can promise is that there is still time to do something about it. I can promise that this is not the end, that this is not when the gate was shut. I can promise there are far more plentiful and effective avenues of advancing social justice than many would make you believe. That is how we're getting out of this mess: not by waiting for the sun to rise, but starting our own lights in the dark.