Conservatives blast White House for saying trans community is ‘under attack’

Conservatives fumed on Thursday after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declared that transgender people are “under attack” just days after a transgender school shooter opened fire on children and staff at a Nashville Christian school. 

Jean-Pierre made the remark during the White House’s daily press briefing on Thursday, where she also denounced “anti-trans bills” being passed by state legislatures, arguing that they “attack trans kids as they attack trans parents.” 

“It is shameful, and it is unacceptable,”Jean-Pierre said of measures that seek to ban gender transition procedures for minors and allow teachers to refuse to use a student’s preferred pronouns.

“Tomorrow is trans visibility day – on the day that we should be lifting up our trans kids, our trans youth and making sure that they feel seen we’re seeing more and more of these hateful, hateful bills,” President Biden’s spokeswoman continued. 

“And so it is shameful. It is disturbing. And our hearts go out to those in the trans community as they are under attack right now,” she added. 

Her comments, made just three days after 28-year-old Audrey Hale murdered three staff members and three childrens at the Covenant School in Nashville, drew the ire of conservative lawmakers and pundits, who took to Twitter to denounce them. 

“This is exactly the kind of hateful & unhinged rhetoric that inspires hate crimes like the massacre in Nashville. We need a full hate crime investigation,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote. 

Earlier this week, Hawley called on the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to investigate the massacre as a hate crime that targeted Christian believers.

“Honestly f**k off, I’ve seen exactly ZERO sympathy for the Christian children shot up by the trans sociopath this weekend from the Biden Admin…” Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s son, wrote in a tweet, sharing a clip of Jean-Pierre’s briefing.

The “Triggered” podcast host added that instead of sympathy from the White House after the deadly mass shooting, he’s only seen “victim blaming and empathy for the sociopathy coming from a growing militant part of this community.”

Dan Andros, the managing editor of the Christian Broadcasting Network, called Jean-Pierre’s rhetoric “sad,” in a tweet.

“The one time she doesn’t have to sit and fumble through notes is when she’s defending trans people after a trans person targeted and gunned down Christians, including Christian children. Sad,” Andros wrote. 

Jean-Pierre’s comments come ahead of a planned protest by LGBTQ activists in Washington, DC, this weekend. 

The so-called “Trans Day of Vengeance” rally is slated to take place outside the US Supreme Court this Saturday.

The name of the rally sparked criticism in the wake of the Covenant School massacre.

It prompted Twitter to delete tweets featuring a poster of the event amid fears the poster and event would incite violence.

In a show of support for the LGBT community, Biden, 80, on Thursday proclaimed Friday to be “Transgender Day of Visibility.”

“Today, we show millions of transgender and nonbinary Americans that we see them, they belong, and they should be treated with dignity and respect. Their courage has given countless others strength, but no one should have to be brave just to be themselves.  Every American deserves that freedom,” the proclamation read.