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The far-right media personality falsely associated the LGBTQ+ community, particularly transgender and nonbinary individuals, with a rise in violent incidents.
In the wake of a recent school shooting in Perry, Iowa, right-wing influencer Candace Owens has sparked controversy with her comments linking the LGBTQ+ community, particularly transgender and nonbinary individuals, to acts of violence.
Owens, the founder of BLEXIT and a prominent conservative voice, took to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to voice her unfounded claims that gender-affirming healthcare is contributing to a rise in mass shootings.
“I am not interested in engaging in another discussion about a school shooter that does not begin and end with discussing big Pharma and its clinical promotion of insanity,” Owens wrote. “We are mass drugging children and conducting psychiatric experiments on them in classrooms across America.”
She continued with a second post, “Gender dysphoria is a mental disorder, and the entire LGBTQ movement brought with it a sexual plague on our society.”
Owens’ statements came after the tragic incident at Perry High School, where a 17-year-old alleged student shooter, Dylan Butler, took the life of one child and injured several others and an administrator before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police. In the aftermath, Owens falsely suggested a connection between the shooter’s alleged LGBTQ+ identity and the violence, a claim not supported by evidence or law enforcement statements.
Law enforcement officials, while not commenting on the shooter’s gender identity or sexual orientation, did acknowledge their investigation of several social media accounts that may be linked to the shooter. One of those accounts, which has since been disabled, showed a Pride flag. This detail was seized upon by right-wing influencers, including Libs of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik, billionaire Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk, and Owens, who push a false narrative implicating the LGBTQ+ community in mass shootings.
This portrayal has been widely discredited. Research from organizations like The Violence Project and the Gun Violence Archive shows that transgender or nonbinary individuals are rarely involved in such shootings. In fact, cisgender men are the predominant demographic in mass shootings, contradicting the claims made by Owens and others.
Owens, known for her show on The Daily Wire, has a history of making incendiary remarks about the LGBTQ+ community. Her recent comments have been met with criticism from various quarters, including transgender journalist Erin Reed, who accused Owens of using “genocidal language.”
Previously, Owens faced a suspension from YouTube for similar hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community. Despite this, her latest remarks on X are unlikely to see similar repercussions since Musk has turned the platform into an anti-LGBTQ+ free-for-all.
Experts and advocacy groups caution against the spread of misinformation and false narratives in the wake of tragedies, especially those targeting vulnerable communities like the LGBTQ+. They emphasize the need to focus on the real issues at hand, such as gun control laws and the support for victims and their families, rather than diverting attention to unfounded and harmful claims.
