Trans Ideology Kills

Let's stop pretending it doesn't

This piece originally ran for Human Events on 2/19/26

There has been another deadly shooting by a trans-identified male, this time in Rhode Island, resulting in three deaths, including the gunman. Less than a week earlier, nine people were killed in Canada by a male shooter who identified as female. The perpetrators shot at family members and strangers in cold blood before taking their own lives. These incidents follow a disturbing pattern of shooters that includes Audrey Hale in Nashville in 2023, Robert/Robin Westman in Minneapolis in 2025, the alleged shooter of Charlie Kirk in Utah, Tyler James Robinson, who reportedly had a trans/furry partner, and so many others in recent years.

Trans activists and their supporters insist on denying this pattern of violence, but reality is increasingly difficult to ignore. There has been a noticeable uptick in mass shooters connected to gender ideology. Wikipedia may publish pages dismissing concerns about “misinformation” related to trans violence, but the pattern is visible to anyone willing to look honestly.

We are repeatedly told that “gender-affirming care is life-saving care”, and most of the medical and psychological establishment continues to endorse this claim. The American Academy of Pediatrics still supports gender transition for minors. Planned Parenthood widely distributes cross-sex hormones and continues to promote the message that people must transition or they will die. Planned Parenthood’s own social media states, “Gender-affirming care literally saves lives.” Yet in the case of “Roberta” Dorgan, this so-called “life-saving care” did not prevent three untimely deaths, including his own.

At the same time, the trans movement claims that trans-identified people are facing a “genocide,” a narrative that many radicalized individuals have accepted as fact. But ordinary people can see what is actually happening: trans-identified individuals are disproportionately involved in these violent acts.

Beyond these horrific homicides, many trans-identified individuals also die quietly by suicide. Activists prefer that these stories remain hidden, but they exist, and they are devastating.

The story of Yaeli Martinez is one such tragedy. She was a depressed young girl in California who was taught at school that she had been born in the wrong body and was groomed to run away from home. When her immigrant mother failed to use the approved name and pronouns, the child was removed from her family and placed in state custody. The state affirmed Yaeli’s new identity and administered cross-sex hormones without her mother’s consent. Yaeli later ended her life on train tracks at age 19.

There is also the case of Yarden Silveira, a man who suffered complex mental health issues who died by suicide at 23 after suffering severe complications from so-called “bottom surgery.” He was failed by a medical system that promised hormones and experimental surgeries would resolve his emotional pain.

Why does this keep happening? People who gravitate toward gender ideology are already struggling psychologically. They are offered the false promise that affirmation, hormones, and surgery will heal their distress. They are showered with rainbows, parades, and slogans and told they are finally accepted as their “true selves.”

Over time, these vulnerable individuals become fixated on superficial and unattainable goals promised by transition. They are absorbed into social networks that “love-bomb” them, so long as they comply with the ideology and never question it. They are repeatedly told they are victims, that they are under constant threat, and that a misused pronoun or even a disapproving glance amounts to erasure. Plus, many are radicalized by pornography and violent online content.

Alongside this psychological destabilization, trans-identified individuals are given powerful hormones and painful surgeries with little oversight. Planned Parenthood can dispense hormones in a single visit, while therapists readily provide letters approving irreversible surgeries.

These are only a few of many similar stories. How many more deaths will it take before we acknowledge the truth: that gender ideology is not life-saving, but deadly?

Pamela Garfield-Jaeger is a licensed clinical social worker with over 20 years of clinical experience with adults and teens. Pamela authored the book “A Practical Response to Gender Distress”, available on Amazon and children’s book, Froggy Girl, available on all online book retailers via www.froggygirlbook.com.

Pamela has also created two CEU classes for therapists to learn how to address gender issues without affirmation on lisamustard.com: Introduction to Gender Distress and Supporting Families with Adult Children in Gender Distress: Clinical Tools for Connection, Compassion, and Communication. (5 CEU credits total)

She has made appearances on Fox News, Newsmax, The Daily Signal, The Christian Post, The Epoch Times, PragerU, The Tomi Lahren Show, The Tony Kinnett Show, The Michael Berry Show, and more. She is active on Instagram as @the.truthfultherapist, twitter/x as @pgarfieldjaeger, and her YouTube channel is @thetruthfultherapist. You can book a consultation with Pamela through her website, www.thetruthfultherapist.org. Linktree