Tucker stokes fears of "trans terrorism" — claims trans movement is "natural enemy" of Christianity

Fox News host pushes religious war narrative between trans movement and "traditional Christians"

Published March 29, 2023 10:42AM (EDT)

Tucker Carlson (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Tucker Carlson (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Fox News host Tucker Carlson stoked anti-trans fears in the wake of Monday's Nashville school shooting, warning of what he described as the rising threat of "trans terrorism."

Carlson cited the deadly shooting at the Covenant School, a private Christian school, to assert a broad and unfounded claim that trans people are waging a war against Christians.

"Why are some trans people so angry, and why do they seem to be mad specifically at traditional Christians?" Carlson asked. 

Carlson attempted to justify his claim by citing several examples of acts of violence committed by gender non-conforming individuals. He singled out a suspect in a plot to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Nicholas Roske, as well as Anderson Lee Aldrich, the suspected perpetrator of a shooting at a gay bar in Colorado whose attorneys have stated is non-binary.

"And now this," Carlson said. "And there could be more."

The transgender movement "is the mirror image of Christianity, and therefore its natural enemy," Carlson claimed.

"In Christianity, the price of admission is admitting [that] you're not God," he continued. The transgender movement, Carlson said, "takes the opposite view."

"'We can change the identity we were born with': Christians can never agree with this statement because these are powers they believe God alone possesses. That … failure to acknowledge a trans person's dominion over nature incites and enrages some in the trans community — people who believe they're God can't stand to be reminded that they are not."

Carlson predicted a growing battle between the transgender movement and Christians in the coming years.

"Christianity and transgender orthodoxy are wholly incompatible theologies. They can never be reconciled. They are on a collision course with each other. One side is likely to draw blood before the other side," he said. "That's what we concluded last week. Yesterday morning, tragically, our fears were confirmed."


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Carlson wasn't the only Republican to deflect from rising gun violence by casting blame on transgender people.

"Everyone can stop blaming guns now," tweeted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., suggesting testosterone hormones and other medications for mental illness contributed to the Nashville suspect's rampage.

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, shared similarly transphobic remarks on Twitter, arguing that "if early reports are accurate that a trans shooter targeted a Christian school, there needs to be a lot of soul searching on the extreme left. Giving in to these ideas isn't compassion, it's dangerous."

The New York Times reported that hate crimes rose twelve percent in 2021, according to F.B.I. data. Attacks spurred by a person's sexual orientation comprised 16 percent of crimes reported.


By Gabriella Ferrigine

Gabriella Ferrigine is a former staff writer at Salon. Originally from the Jersey Shore, she moved to New York City in 2016 to attend Columbia University, where she received her B.A. in English and M.A. in American Studies. Formerly a staff writer at NowThis News, she has an M.A. in Magazine Journalism from NYU and was previously a news fellow at Salon.

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Fox News Jd Vance Lgbtq Marjorie Taylor Greene Politics Tucker Carlson