AUSTIN – As Nashville police identified the private Christian school shooter as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who identifies as transgender, demonstrators were at the Texas State Capitol fighting against anti-trans bills being considered by state lawmakers.
“It doesn’t excuse anything that happened,” said Andrea Segovia, senior field and policy advisor for the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT). “I am concerned about how opposition and people who are anti-trans will try to spin this.”
The concerns are about tweets like this one, from GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who wrote: “How much hormones like testosterone and medications for mental illness was the transgender Nashville school shooter taking? Everyone can stop blaming guns now.”
How much hormones like testosterone and medications for mental illness was the transgender Nashville school shooter taking?
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) March 27, 2023
Everyone can stop blaming guns now.
“The comparison of they did it because they’re trans is very unfair to trans people,” Segovia said. “Being trans is not somebody’s whole identity.”
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Segovia was one of hundreds who joined Monday’s battle at the Capitol, fighting House Bill 1686, which would block doctors from providing gender transition healthcare treatment to children.
Now with another reason for the Texas trans community to be in the spotlight with at least two months remaining of the legislative session, advocates worry the attacks aren’t over.
“You can’t say that because one person did something, that’s a characteristic or reason to be cruel to trans people,” Segovia said.
The Human Rights Campaign issued the following statement:
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) March 27, 2023