U.S. congressman wants to blame rampage on queer community
Transphobia - unfortunately - also plays a role in the USA. A current example shows that there are apparently hardly any limits when it comes to bringing the queer community into disrepute. Recently trans-hostile laws were passed and now the scene has to deal with bad accusations again.
US Congressman Paul Gosar claims that the Texas school massacre was perpetrated by a transgender woman. The 63-year-old Republican tweeted this wild hypothesis on the social networks. Heated discussions quickly ensued on the Internet.
What happened in Texas?
In the small Texas town of Uvalde, a gruesome act took place. In an elementary school, a former student, who was now 18 years old, had shot a total of 19 elementary school children and two teachers. The perpetrator had legally purchased the weapons on the basis of American law.
Accordingly, numerous voices are once again being raised against the current gun lobby in the USA. After all, they say, it is far too easy to obtain weapons legally and quickly. However, there are many Americans who do not see the problem in the gun laws, but try to find other causes for the problem. Paul Gosar, for example, believes that the crime was committed because of the alleged transsexuality of the perpetrator.
Paul Gosar's questionable tweet
In the original, Paul Gosar tweeted, "We already know foo. It's a transsexual leftist illegal alien named Salvatore Ramos. It's apparently your kind of trash." In German: " It was a transsexual leftist illegal alien[...]. It's apparently your kind of trash." .
Only a few hours later, the entry could no longer be found on Twitter. It had been deleted. Nevertheless, there are enough people who were able to take a screenshot of the tweet before it was "made invisible" again.
Paul Gosar has not yet commented on his action. Neither on the text, nor on its deletion. It is not yet known whether the US congressman should expect any consequences.
The rumors that the perpetrator was a transgender woman were sparked by a photo showing the alleged gunman with an LGBTQIA+ flag. However, it has already been confirmed and proven on the online platform "Reddit" that the person in the photo is not the shooter.
Always dangerous: rumors as facts
Paul Gosar (and also many other people on the net) have succumbed to the misconception that a transsexual person was responsible for the recent crime in Texas. This has caused a heated discussion to build up on the internet. Many people, who see transsexuality for example as a kind of mental illness that needs to be treated, are currently venting their anger in the comment columns.
For Paul Gosar, the rumors must have been grist to his mill. After all, he is known for fighting the queer community with all means. For example, he recently supported the reintroduction of the marriage ban for homosexual couples.
And although the act was not committed by a transsexual person, the community has to live with exactly these accusations... And have to endure the sometimes extremely homophobic comments. It might take some time until the waves have smoothed out here.