We have to talk about this

We have to talk about the trans issue. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox appeared on several leading Sunday morning news programs this past weekend, and we need to look closely at what he disclosed about Tyler Robinson, the young man arrested for the assassination of Charlie Kirk. After explaining that Robinson had been radicalized through online engagement through chat sites and gaming platforms, Cox added: “There clearly was a leftist ideology.” That makes perfect sense, given that the assassination of Charlie Kirk was clearly linked to the fact that he was a hero among American conservatives—especially young conservatives—and that he was engaged in public debate on a major college campus at the moment he was murdered.

Furthermore, early information released by law enforcement included engravings on ammunition that clearly reflected “a leftist ideology.” As is true in the vast majority of political assassinations, the assassin kills to send a political message. That was accentuated in the killing of Charlie Kirk because it happened in the context of a political event in which Kirk was doing what he did best—appearing among thousands of college students in order to contend for his beliefs. He sat under a tent that advertised with words the openness of his approach: “Prove me wrong.”

We need to take a closer look at the other major statement by Gov. Cox. With carefully calculated words, meant to reduce any possibility of misunderstanding, the governor stated that investigators were talking to Robinson’s roommate. “The roommate was a romantic partner, a male transitioning to female,” Cox said.

The transgender issue had been raised about 24 hours before the governor made that official statement. The words chosen by the governor left no room for misunderstanding. Tyler Robinson had a roommate, described by the governor as a romantic partner, “a male transitioning to female.” Suddenly and officially, the trans angle became part of the story. And Charlie Kirk had just answered a question about mass shootings by transgender individuals when he was assassinated.

It was immediately clear that the mainstream media wanted to stay as far away from that part of the story as possible. That’s exactly what happened with the shooter who killed and injured children at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. But, since in that case the transgender issue was relevant to the shooter himself, the issue was impossible to ignore. News reports and commentary after the gruesome shooting were a jumble of confusion—the confusion inevitable once the transgender ideology takes hold.

The killer in Minneapolis was Robert Westman, who had changed his name to “Robin” Westman with the cooperation of his mother. The New York Times referred to the transgender shooter as “Ms. Westman.” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democratic senator from Minnesota, told National Public Radio that the shooter acted out of hate, rightly referring to Westman as “he.” NPR quickly came back with this comment: “And just a point of clarification, Sen. Klobuchar referenced the shooter as ‘he.’ Although police have identified a suspect, it’s still unclear at this time what that person’s identity is or how they identify.” On PBS Newshour, David Brooks referred to Westman as female. Many others did the same, knowing that Westman was biologically male. Other media sources tried their best to avoid making any gender reference at all, referring only to “the shooter.”

Authorities in Minnesota later disclosed that Robert Westman had attended the school as a boy, but later identified as female, creating the ridiculous formulation that he attended the school as a boy but returned with murderous intention as a female. The powers that be told us all to move on—nothing to see here when it came to the transgender issue.

That same pattern appeared in the horrifying 2023 mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville. Eventually authorities identified Audrey Hale, the shooter, as transgender or non-binary. ABC News argued that the trans dimension of the story was not an issue: “Advocates say transgender people have historically and falsely been categorized as violent or dangerous—perpetuating anti-transgender sentiment and further ostracizing a vulnerable and small population.” ABC News went on to state: "Every study available shows that transgender and non-binary people are much more likely to be victims of violence, rather than the perpetrator of it, the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement following the shooting.”

It would certainly be wrong to argue that everyone with a transgender identity is a potential mass shooter. That would be flatly irresponsible. But it is insanity to argue that the transgender identity has nothing to do with these crimes. The pattern is now undeniable.

Most cultural authorities are running scared from any public acknowledgement of the pattern. They are so intimidated by the LGBTQ community and the cultural guardians of leftist gender ideologies that they simply want to move on—fast. They want us all to do the same.

But we can’t just move on. The ideologues and activists of the transgender revolution want to prevent any discussion of the fact that there is deep trouble here. What kind of intense inner turmoil is reflected in this pattern? By definition, the intense rejection of one’s given biological sex cannot be an insignificant matter.

I know this isn’t going to be easy, but the issue can’t be avoided. We have to talk about this.