A Rotten Apple…

Does it spoil the whole barrel?

There are many intersectionalities and do they define the whole community?

When a crime is committed does it taint everyone?

The horrible school murder out in Colorado last week was probably committed by a trans man, does that blacken the whole trans community? Well the whole right-wing conservative media pundits think so.

Was the ‘Media Silent’ About a ‘Democrat Transgender’ Colorado Shooting Suspect?
It's unknown whether the political leanings or purported gender identity of either suspect is relevant to the crime.
Snopes
By Bethania Palma
13 May 2019

Little time elapsed between the fatal 7 May 2019 mass shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and attempts to politicize the tragedy.

Two suspects, 18-year-old Devon Erickson and a 16-year-old who goes by the name Alec McKinney, were arrested in the school shooting that killed Kendrick Castillo, the 18-year-old who died charging one of the shooters, saving lives as a result. Eight others were injured. So far, authorities have disclosed no motive for the attack, but that didn’t stop some people from assigning one that fit their narrative.

For example, the following meme circulated on Facebook in the aftermath of what was the second deadly school shooting in the U.S. over seven days:

Colorado school shooter was a democrat transgender Anti-Christian drug user. Media silent

One day after the shooting, Denver station KMGH-TV first reported one of the shooting suspects “is a transgender male who was in the midst of transitioning from female to male.” Subsequently, publications that sent journalists to the suspects’ court appearances reported that McKinney was born female with the official name “Maya,” but prefers the use of male pronouns and goes by the name “Alec.” Right-wingwebsites such as Breitbart and the Daily Caller also reported that the older suspect, Erickson, was registered to vote as a Democrat.

News reports also indicated at least one of the suspects may have used drugs, while the New York Post reported that “what appears to be” Erickson’s Facebook page included a 2014 post in which he allegedly wrote about hating “All these Christians who hate gays.”

Putting aside the bias motivated rhetoric about news coverage; how does the fact that murders and attacks were done by a trans person reflect on our community?

Should a suspect’s sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religious affiliation, and political affiliation be reported by the media? I think it should be if it shows their motive and that leads to another point.

However we should not paint with a broad brush.

I see a difference between saying all Republicans hate us and saying all Republicans are complicit in the climate of hate when they ignore the bigotry of their party leaders.

I see a difference between affirming churches and non-affirming churches.

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The Snopes article goes on to say,

In December 2018, school officials were warned by a parent that conditions at the school created a “perfect storm” for a repeat of the catastrophic violence that took place at Columbine High School on 20 April 1999, during which two shooters killed 12 students and a teacher.

The parent, who made the allegations in an anonymous phone call, said a culture of bullying and violence existed at STEM, a charter school in a Denver suburb. Many of the students, according to the caller, are “suicidal and violent” in school. The allegations made by the parent were outlined in a letter from a Douglas County School District official to STEM School Executive Director Penelope Eucker, a letter that was obtained by Denver television station KUSA.

You can sweep bullying under the rug and they do they are creating a festering sore that is going to erupt.

I was on a committee run by the CT Department of Education called the Safe Schools Coalition looking at best practices. What amazed me was the number of schools that reported no cases of bullying… zero, zip, zilch, nada. Not one case.

In one case a boy was snapping girls’ bras and because he did do it more than once to a girl the school ruled it wasn’t harassment because it was repeated and a girl (their justification totally ignored that it was an assault).

When I was interning I researched best practices and one of the things that I learned was that anti-bullying polices have to start are kindergarten. Schools that trained their teachers to spot anti-social students and give them special training on to how to play together reduced bullying later in life.

When schools look the other way for anti-social behavior then violence rules.