From the moment President Donald Trump was elected, it was clear that the transgender community was going to be under attack. In the months since he began his second term, trans people have had their existence challenged by the state, their health care threatened and their ability to exist in society called into question. But in recent weeks, things seem to have gotten even worse than anyone could have imagined.

In the days following Charlie Kirk’s assassination, false claims that the shooter was trans spread across the internet. The Wall Street Journal initially claimed that bullets found at the scene of the attack were engraved with "transgender and anti-fascist ideology." Vice President JD Vance went on “Jesse Watters Primetime” the following week and implied that trans people were part of a “terrorist movement.”

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