In the aftermath of the recent school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, which claimed the lives of three children and three adults, the transgender community in the state is bracing itself for renewed vitriol. Although the shooter’s gender identity was initially reported to be female, it later emerged that the individual identified as transgender. However, some Republican lawmakers, including J.D. Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio, and U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, suggested in social media posts that the shooter’s gender identity may have been a factor in the murders.
For many transgender Tennesseans, this incident only adds to the already overwhelming sense of fear and vulnerability they feel due to their state’s efforts to regulate the lives of gay and trans people. Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature has recently passed a number of anti-trans laws, including a ban on gender-affirming medical care for anyone under 18 and a restriction on drag shows in public places.
These bills are part of a broader anti-trans push by Republicans in conservative states who argue they are protecting children. However, many in the transgender community see them as an attack on their basic rights and an attempt to marginalize and stigmatize them.
Mykul Coscia, a drag king at Nashville’s Play Dance Bar, an LGBTQ nightclub, believes that the focus should be on the gun issue and not the shooter’s gender identity. He fears for the safety of his 7-year-old daughter, who attends a school in the Nashville area, due to the prevalence of school shootings in the U.S. Despite being a gun owner himself, Coscia wants lawmakers to make it harder to obtain guns and to ban the kind of semi-automatic rifle used in many school shootings, including the recent one at the Covenant School.
Dawn Bennett, the pastor of The Table, an LGBTQ congregation at a Lutheran church in downtown Nashville, is also deeply concerned about the safety of the transgender community in the wake of the shooting. One of her congregants was recently confronted and told that they were the cause of the shooting, and that “you and your people are going to hell for eternity”. Bennett believes that the trans community is going to pay dearly for this incident, and is encouraging her congregants to pray and to petition Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to enact “commonsense gun safety measures.”
Overall, the transgender community in Tennessee is feeling increasingly vulnerable and marginalized, with many fearful for their safety and wellbeing. Despite the efforts of some Republican lawmakers to demonize and stigmatize them, they are determined to continue fighting for their rights and for a more inclusive and equitable society.