Overview

• On Newsmax’s Finnerty program, Rep. Ronny Jackson described transgender people as a “virus” and a “cancer,” urged taking them “off the streets” and “off the internet,” and called for institutionalization.
• Jackson asserted transgender women have an “underlying level of aggressiveness” and claimed Democrats and media figures “bred” domestic terrorists, saying they were “directly responsible” for Charlie Kirk’s death.
• Tyler Robinson has been charged in the Sept. 10 killing of Kirk at Utah Valley University; charging documents cite a romantic tie to a person undergoing a gender transition and texts saying Robinson had “enough of his hatred.”
• Jackson tied his comments to military policy by claiming transgender people are barred due to psychiatric issues, while medical authorities distinguish gender dysphoria from transgender identity and do not classify being transgender as a mental illness.
• Data cited in coverage show no evidence of elevated transgender violence, including a 2023 analysis finding trans suspects in 0.11% of mass shootings, while GLAAD reports transgender people are far more likely to be crime victims.