The president of the Catholic League said Tuesday that the Nashville school shooting “needs to be investigated as a hate crime against Christians” based on the report by the police chief that the transgender shooter held “some resentment for having to go to that school.”
“The shooter, Audrey Hale, is a female who misidentified herself as a male,” wrote Bill Donohue, who heads the Catholic civil rights organization. “Her resentment against The Covenant School, a Christian school, is important given that Christianity teaches we are either male or female.”
Donohue continued:
In all likelihood, this is the source of her resentment. After all, she targeted this school—she did not go on a rampage in a local public school. To top things off, her mother works at a local church and frequently posts about religion on social media.
The Nashville mass shooting, which resulted in the killing of three children and three adults, needs to be investigated as a hate crime against Christians.https://t.co/noYZEIe8c8 pic.twitter.com/figNguB0vv
— Catholic League (@CatholicLeague) March 28, 2023
“Trans youth are not normal,” the Catholic League posted to Twitter as well.
Trans youth are not normal https://t.co/noYZEIe8c8
— Catholic League (@CatholicLeague) March 28, 2023
Donohue added another reason why the Nashville shooting should be investigated as a hate crime is that “transgender persons are often taught to hate normal men and women,” and offered the following “evidence”: the case of a 2018 study by Brown University’s Dr. Lisa Littman that found 87 percent of the youth reported to have “come out” as transgender after increased time spent on social media and following “cluster outbreaks” of gender dysphoria among peer groups.
Donohue wrote more about Littman’s study that found other mental health disorders associated with the claim of gender dysphoria:
Let me first say that the use of the term “normal” is mine, not Littman’s. Nonetheless, in her study she found that 46.6 percent of transgender young people suffer from anxiety and 39.4 percent suffer from depression. Almost half, 48.4 percent, said they experienced traumatic or stressful experiences prior to the onset of their problem, namely gender dysphoria. And 61.4 percent admitted that they were “overwhelmed by strong emotions and tries to/goes to great lengths to avoid feeling them.” None of this is normal.
“As to the critical point—the way transgender youth view normal males and females—what Littman found is as enlightening as it is disturbing,” Donohue continued. “She concluded that their friends ‘praised and supported people who were transgender-identified and ridiculed and maligned non-transgender people.’”
The Catholic leader cited examples from Littman’s article of how transgender young people developed an attitude of hostility toward non-transgender people and their parents:
The disparagement of normal people online cannot be exaggerated. Littman mentions Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as the worst platforms. As one participant put it, “They speak with derision about how cis-gendered people do not understand them and are so close-minded.” Another said, “I hear them disparaging heterosexuality, marriage and nuclear families.”
According to The Hill, police have found a manifesto with, what Nashville Metro Chief John Drake said, has “quite a bit of writing to it,” as well as a map of the school.
The report also noted that the 28-year-old shooter had been under a doctor’s care for an “emotional disorder,” though police indicated they knew nothing about Hale’s treatment.
Hale (pictured above) stormed into the Covenant School, a private Christian school, and killed three nine-year-old children and three adults before she was shot and killed by police.
While police initially described Hale as a teenager and, then, as a 28-year-old woman, it was later revealed that Hale was transgender.
“Transgender young people have emotional and mental disorders,” Donohue concluded. “They need help. They are also being taught to hate everyone not like them.”
“When you add these conditions to the resentment that the Nashville shooter exhibited towards her Christian school, you have a recipe for disaster,” he observed. “We cannot allow a biased media to spin this story any other way. We need a probe to determine whether this was a hate crime.”
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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Audrey Hale” and Background Photo “The Covenant School Crime Scene” by Metro Nashville Police Department.
