Nashville school shooting: Trans community fears backlash after Audrey Hale attack | American News

The trans community fears a “backlash” following the shooting at a school in Nashville.

Six people, including three nine-year-old children, were killed after Audrey Hale opened fire in the Christian Covenant School in the state capital of Tennessee.

Shortly after police revealed that Hale, a former student of the schoolidentified as a transgender man, the hashtag #TransTerrorism started trending on Twitter.

Transgender activist Kim Spoon, of Knoxville, Tennessee, said BNC News the community was “terrified” adding, “More blood is going to be shed, and it won’t be shed in a school.”

Picture:
Audrey Elizabeth Hale stalks school hallways during Nashville shooting

Denise Sadler, a transgender flirt, said she had already hired four armed guards ahead of Monday’s shooting to secure a drag show she is hosting at a Nashville gay bar this weekend.

Following the anti-trans rhetoric online since the attack, she now plans to double that number to eight guards.

“You don’t know if [the shooter’s gender identity] going to inspire a community of people who already hated us to come and try to shoot us to prove a point,” Sadler said.

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“At the end of the day, there’s a lot of hurt, there’s a lot of anger, there’s a lot of confusion.”

Audrey Hale
Picture:
Audrey Hale

At a news conference Tuesday, Nashville Police Chief John Drake said the motive for the shooting was still unknown.

However, on Monday, when asked if Hale’s transgender identity may have played a role in the motive, he replied, “There’s a theory to that. We’re investigating all leads.”

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Police say Audrey Elizabeth Hale’s parents believe she should not own weapons.

Aislinn Bailey, acting president of Tri-Cities Transgender, a transgender advocacy group based in Johnson City, Tenn., said her initial reaction to news that the suspect was transgender was “fear.”

“I knew as soon as someone mentioned that this was going to immediately become the focus instead of what it should be, and that’s gun violence in this country,” Bailey said.

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A video shows that the attacker was shot dead

She condemned the officers’ choice to release information about the suspect’s gender identity when they seemed unsure of its relevance.

Baily said: “I think it was unethical and I strongly suspect that information like this, which they must have known, could cause backlash on the trans community – posting information like this- here without them being checked, it is inadmissible as far as I am concerned.

“We were already fearing for our lives. Now it’s even worse.”

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