HHS study links transgender ideology to justifying violence

LGBT activists and supporters hold a rally in support of transgender rights. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

A new study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has found an association between gender ideology and the justification of political violence, LifeSiteNews reports.

The study, titled “Where the Clinic Meets the Movement: Does Gender Ideology Arm Left-Wing Authoritarian (LWA) Psychology?”, surveyed 1,208 American adults. The authors found that so-called left-wing authoritarianism was positively associated with the justification of violence across six targets: the killing of Charlie Kirk, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the killing of Brian Thompson, arson attacks on immigration enforcement facilities, damage to the property of wealthy people, and violence against police.

The researchers concluded that gender ideology “may function as an ideological accelerant,” identifying a set of enemies or oppressors – "groups toward whom coercion, punishment, censorship, or institutional control can be morally rationalized as protective action."

The paper states that gender ideology identifies perceived “sources of harm” – conservatives, Christians, police, and people who do not identify as LGBT – and frames any dissent from gender “affirmation” not merely as disagreement but as the infliction of physical harm, "thereby making compelled affirming speech, institutional discipline, and intervention against parental resistance appear morally necessary and clinically protective."

“Radical gender ideology is pushing unstable individuals toward violence and targeting innocent people,” wrote journalist Benny Johnson. “Trans violence is an epidemic and the threat is escalating.”

In May, the Trump administration’s “U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy 2026” named transgender ideology as one of the main domestic security threats, alongside drug cartels and Islamist terrorist groups.

As the UOJ reported, the first openly transgender U.S. lawmaker was sentenced for child sexual abuse.

Read also