Pro-trans radicals more likely to support political violence: DHS-commissioned study

The study, commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services and conducted by researchers from Rutgers University, the Manhattan Institute, and the Network Contagion Research Institute, found that “people who scored higher on left-wing authoritarianism were substantially more likely to consider political violence justified,” per a press release.

As part of the study, 1,208 US adults were surveyed about six potential targets of political violence: “killing Charlie Kirk, killing Donald Trump, killing Brian Thompson, arson of ICE buildings, damaging wealthy people’s property, and violence against police.” The study said its findings “suggest that gender ideology is associated with LWA [left-wing authoritarianism] and willingness to justify political violence.”

LWA is described as “the construct at the center of this study. It describes a psychological profile characterized by aggression toward perceived oppressors, enthusiasm for top-down censorship and institutional enforcement, and hostility toward conventional social institutions—in short, an authoritarian disposition organized around left rather than right political content.”

As part of the study, researchers developed a Clinical Gender Affirmation Scale (CGAS) to “measure endorsement of the official clinical consensus positions” of various health bodies, such as WPATH, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychiatric Association.

The scale asked respondents about their support for five statements, including “Failure to affirm a transgender person’s gender identity increases the risk of serious psychological distress to the trans person,” “people should be supported in expressing their transgender identity,” and

"Parents should support their children’s transgender exploration,” among other statements.

The study said that “endorsement of CGAS was a strong statistical predictor of left-wing authoritarianism.” Of the six targets identified in the study, it stated that “Both LWA and CGAS were significantly positively correlated with justification for political violence across all six targets.”

The study concluded, “People who strongly endorse gender ideology positions score dramatically higher on left-wing authoritarianism than their political identity alone would predict. Furthermore, both LWA and CGAS predicted support for political violence. Together, these findings support the paper's core claim: gender ideology may function as an ideological accelerant, telling left-wing authoritarian psychology who the enemy is, why the situation is urgent, and—in those already disposed toward force—that violence is legitimate.”

The study made special note of the “Trans-Genocide Belief,” in which someone believes “that a genocide of individuals that identify as transgender is currently underway in the United States.” The researchers said that belief “is predicted to more strongly relate to CGAS and LWA than to political identity and to be associated with elevated justification for political violence.”

Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brian Christine said of the study, “This study raises important questions about what happens when ideology is given the authority of medicine. The association between sex-rejecting clinical beliefs, authoritarian attitudes, and the justification of political violence warrant serious scientific scrutiny. HHS will continue to pursue rigorous research that examines these relationships and gives the American people the evidence they deserve.”

The study comes in the wake of a number of high-profile shootings involving transgender individuals or people connected to trans individuals. Most notable is the assassination of Charlie Kirk, in which he was fatally shot in Utah while answering a question about mass shootings carried out by trans individuals. Arrested for that shooting is Tyler Robinson, whose roommate and lover was transgender, Lace Twiggs.

Colin Wright, a researcher for the study, told the New York Post, which first obtained the study, “One of our study’s most interesting and perhaps shocking findings was that accepting gender ideology appeared to augment authoritarian attitudes on support for political violence. We believe this may result from gender ideology defining specific oppressed classes and their oppressors, and the promotion of extreme narratives of harm for those who refuse to affirm transgender identities both socially and medically. That is only speculative at this point, but we are addressing this directly in a follow-up report.”