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This story was originally reported by Orion Rummler and Jasmine Mithani of The 19th. Meet Orion and Jasmine and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

A new study from the Trump administration is sending alarm bells through pro-democracy groups for its potential to fuel a crackdown on Americans who support LGBTQ rights — or anyone with left-leaning views.

Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a study that reaches a dramatic conclusion: Those who support transgender people may be more likely to justify political violence. The study also claims that those who agree with statements like “all political conservatives are fools” or “anyone who opposes gay marriage must be homophobic” may also be more likely to support political violence.

Experts have serious doubts about the study’s findings and major ethical objections to its methodology. They say that it builds on previous pseudoscience about trans people and, ultimately, they are concerned about how the Trump administration plans to use it.

“I have rarely read a report that has come out of the government that is so clearly politically biased,” said Hanah Stiverson, director of policy at the Chamberlain Network, a pro-democracy nonprofit that fights political polarization. This report is clearly meant for political weaponization, she said.

This report is continuing the anti-trans campaign laid out by the Trump administration by moving the conversation beyond youth and sports, said Heron Greenesmith, a policy attorney who has researched anti-trans advocacy networks. It goes beyond past arguments by administration allies linking transgender people to increased capacity to violence, Greenesmith said: “It seeks to explicitly connect support for trans people to violence by actors on the left.”

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The study, commissioned by HHS, was done by researchers with Rutgers University, as well as the conservative think tank Manhattan Institute and the Network Contagion Research Institute, a nonprofit studying extremism and online rhetoric from QAnon to the Democratic Socialists of America.

None of the authors responded to The 19th’s multiple interview requests. HHS and Rutgers also did not respond to a request for comment.

The HHS report notes that there is more work to be done, and “additional research questions will be addressed in subsequent analyses.” The authors shared their design on an open-source academic research site in June, hinting at directions of future reports and what else the government may use this research for.

The report released by HHS, titled “Where the Clinic Meets the Movement: Does Gender Ideology Arm Left-Wing Authoritarian Psychology?” analyzed the responses of 1,208 adults to questions about support for transgender people and other topics related to political violence and democracy.

The researchers considered the responses in terms of eight metrics. One was their own creation: the “Clinical Gender Affirmation Scale,” or CGAS, meant to measure support for trans people based on clinical guidelines from major medical groups. It asks respondents how much they agree with statements like “people should be supported in expressing their transgender identity” and whether using a trans person’s chosen name and pronouns is necessary.

The other metrics the researchers looked at included left-wing authoritarianism — a concept that has been controversial for decades — the justification of political violence and anti-democratic attitudes. On left-wing authoritarianism, the questions gauged support for statements including: “America would be much better off if all of the rich people were at the bottom of the social ladder” or “to succeed, a workplace must ensure that its employees feel safe from criticism.” On political violence, it asked about opinions on high-profile assassination attempts, damaging the property of wealthy people and setting fire to ICE buildings.

The authors of the study write that, based on their research, supporting trans people is linked to........

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