So far we only know bits and pieces about the strange and isolated life of Robert Lewis Dear, the alleged shooter who murdered three people and injured many others after holing up in a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic yesterday afternoon.
We know that he had numerous run-ins with the law and with his neighbors, that he was accused in the past of domestic violence, that he lived in a small shack in the woods.
While Dear didn’t leave behind a manifesto, the fact that he targeted Planned Parenthood seems to be a rather large clue as to his motivations. Indeed, the mayor of Colorado Springs told reporters that they could make “inferences” about Dear’s motivations “from where [the shootings] took place.” Meanwhile, NBC is reporting that Dear talked about abortion after he was arrested, making reference to “baby parts,” according to NBC’s law enforcement sources.
Apparently embarrassed by the actions of yet another white male terrorist, some right-wingers are trumpeting a bizarre claim: that Dear is a trans woman.
The claim seems to have originated with the blog Gateway Pundit, which posted voter registration information for Dear that labeled the alleged shooter as “female.”
To Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft, this isn’t just an innocent mistake on the part of some government clerk; it’s proof that Dear “Identifies as [a] Woman.”
Naturally, others picked up on the bizarre claim. Rich Hoffman, who blogs as Overmanwarrior, treated this “news” as a giant “gotcha.”
Guess what, Obama, MSNBC, CNN, Hillary Clinton and all the rest of the knuckle dragging losers of progressive politics? They thought they finally had a white middle-aged Republican man who committed a terrorist act—so that they could propose more gun control.
Never mind that most of America’s terrorists are in fact white men.
Sadly for them, the shooter—Robert Lewis Dear—the lunatic who shot up a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic on November 27th 2015 appears to be a cross-gender loving pervert who shared much more with Obama’s LBGT community than the NRA loving American traditionalists.
Never mind that the only political activism anyone says they’ve seen Dear ever engaging in was handing out anti-Obama leaflets.
According to early reports from The Gateway Pundit shown below indicate Robert Lewis Dear identified as a woman, not as the man that he is. Bet you won’t hear that on the news networks.
Probably because it’s not true.
Dear sounds like a cast member of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. That would explain his appearance.
Apparently Hoffman has never actually seen Rocky Horror.
Hoffman continued on — and on:
This is just further proof that liberals make most of the problems in our society. They feed anger toward Planned Parenthood with immoral justifications then they create a loose society full of perverts, peeping Toms, and losers who are men who think they are women and women who want to be men. USA Today almost had an orgasm when they saw the pictures of the suspect, but quickly put on the brakes once the stories of this idiot became clear. They reported that the motive was unclear so the hard reporting will probably die now that Robert Lewis Dear has turned out to be a Bruce Jenner clone—a woman in a man’s body. Perhaps Dear was jealous that real woman were able to get abortions for casual sex while he was not able to commit such a vile crime—so he went on a shooting spree. That conclusion is just as valid as Obama’s early comments regarding the push to use gun control as a way to keep more idiots like this loser free to peek in our windows all in the name of a more “progressive” society of morally loose punks and general depraved nut cases. Gun control laws obviously didn’t work with this confused person. Robert Lewis Dear was a Obama kind of guy—a bewildered mess who didn’t know what he was.
Naturally, Hoffman isn’t the only one crying “gotcha.” On Twitter, right-wingers are spreading the “news” of Dear’s imaginary status as a trans woman; they sound positively giddy.
https://twitter.com/AuroraStargazer/status/670676592809545729
Democrat. Trans. BOOM!https://t.co/nVZkgqUwu4
— MelDoyle (@meldoyle9) November 28, 2015
https://twitter.com/ThomasWictor/status/670535763575087104
Official records show shooter identified as a female! A trans-terrorist?… https://t.co/yRs0AuKLnq
— Family Policy WV (@FamilyPolicyWV) November 28, 2015
https://twitter.com/GotharReichart/status/670722140723945472
https://twitter.com/US395/status/670651383301951488
https://twitter.com/Gregory__Adams/status/670640296963743744
Naturally, some couldn’t keep themselves from indulging in transphobic jokes:
The runner up for Caitlyn's Trans-ESPY award did not take the snub well. #PlannedParenthood https://t.co/E3kJPc3a47
— HaleStorm (@RealTJHale) November 28, 2015
@THEREBELTV According to his voter reg Robert Lewis Dear identifies as woman.
"She ain't perfect she's my brother"— Jones (@Sanerfpta) November 28, 2015
A man who thinks he's a she⏩ RT @exposeliberals: Who is Robert Lewis Dear? https://t.co/HoAz921RN0 #tcot #tlot #tgdn https://t.co/UNIXDNY2FL
— Patty 🌻🇺🇸🌵 (@littlebytesnews) November 28, 2015
#trans #PPShooter MO: Identifies as #FEMALE,So,HeWantedAbortion &PP WouldNot GiveHimOne? #LGBT #celebrities #TMZ https://t.co/SMP1YR828z
— sara hall (@sarahal15586515) November 28, 2015
Do any of these people actually believe that Dear is a trans woman, or are they deliberately spreading disinformation to amuse themselves and muddy the real issues?
I suspect that it is largely the latter. Either way, it is not a shining moment for them.
H/T — Thanks to yutolia, who tipped me off to this development in the comments here.
Out of curiosity, is voter registration similar to social security or government issued drivers licenses? As far as I know in order to receive a female gender marker for each of these one must have a physicians note or letter or something that basically says “this person has had their bits operated on”.
I’m kinda unclear on the specifics, but I’m pretty sure that’s the case for most government stuff these days.
If you read my initial comment, it wasn’t making it all about them. If anything the responses saying “why are we talking about (insert acronym here) seem far more derailing. But, hey, why focus on what I actually said when it can be pick-and-choose taken out of context?
It’s not derailing to defend yourself, and when one implies a trans woman is “attacking feminists” it a)implies said trans woman isn’t a feminist, and that b)that trans woman possesses an animus toward feminists.
Anyways, done, this is just kick-the-freak territory at this point, and frankly the same thing I’ve been saying all along: this is burying the lede.
I’ll try again some other time, but this is…just a giant pile of disingenuity and avoiding blaming the actual problem (patriarchy, douchebag forced-birther shooter) because there’s an easier target.
I shall decline to be that easier target.
Kale–
http://beardsandbattlescars.tumblr.com/post/112215122976/this-beautiful-beard-belongs-to-the-handsome
Pretty much any guy can grow an epic beard if his hormones and genetics are right.
That said, the shooter is extremely unlikely to be transgender, he’d never have made it through psych evals.
@ kale I am a transman, and my beard could easily get that epic. I can also grow a much better moustache than this guy, but I don’t, because if I do my wife won’t kiss me 🙁
My secret, like everyone else’s, is an unpredictable mix of genetic inheritance, time, and hormones. (Just kidding, I traded my glorious golden mane to a black wizard so I could gain Beard Powers. So while my face hair is luxurious, my scalp is uh very chilly.)
Hey, you who keep complaining that Erica brought up TERFs, you are the one keeping on derailing by complaining that TERFs were brought up, and the reason it became a “thing” to begin with was because some gross person tried to defend TERFs. Don’t let this turn into another episode like the ableism one that made David have to redo the comment policy
Wow, ok. Who exactly was defending TERFs?
Actually nevermind. I’ll go play Minecraft.
I once, jokingly, in responnse to some anti-trans comments made about an article said:
“Same old, old trans hate stuff, can we get some new stuff please just to liven things up a bit? It is so boring for us trans people to hear the same old things over and over again”.
I didn’t expect to be taken seriously though….
@nightmarelyre
I just reread the entire thread. I must have missed it. Who, where, and what?
Well, I wouldn’t call it a defense at all but this comment
was pretty fucking ridiculous.
I don’t think its any worse for someone to suspect TERFs being involved in spreading vicious rumors as it is when we suspect 4chan or GG or any other likely culprit of fuckery. When you see it often enough, it sets off your radars, and we have to understand that people have different experiences that color their view on things.
Why would anyone anywhere take Gateway Pundit seriously?
Nate — never underestimate the stupidity of people. Particularly when they’re commented on here. Not MRAs this time, but they have found the bottom of the barrel and kept right on digging to the point they must be lava-proof cuz they’ve hit the molten core by now.
There is at least one more option:
4. Apply the TERF label when the person in question is actually a TERF and not do it when they’re not.
Again: TERFs don’t have a corner on trans-exclusion, or on radical feminism. Not every trans-exclusionary feminist you come across is a TERF. Not every radical feminist is trans-exclusionary. There’s a strong parallel between this kind of ideological essentialism (all radical feminists are TERFs and only radical feminists are TERFs) and the kind of gender essentialism that is the whole TERF problem (all women are X and only women are X). Not that I expect you to care at this point, but maybe something to think about later.
Radical feminists who are not trans-exclusionary exist, and in my experience are the majority of radfems. Although you’re not required to deal with this extremely basic nuance if you don’t want to, non-trans-exclusionary radical feminists aren’t required to fight for your rights when you treat them like trash.
And this whole business wasn’t about you at all, but about this comment by Vanessa Emma Goldman:
Yeah, there’s not actually a reason to think that TERFs have a hand in this. There is an entire universe of trans-exclusionary people out there who are not TERFs.
Wait, what? Your support for oppressed groups is conditional on how some of their members treat you personally? For real?
I suppose it depends on what you mean by “support.” Do I emotionally support trans women, regardless of their opinion of me? Yes. Do I verbally support them, likewise? Yes.
Do I go out and expend my limited time and energy actively fighting for someone who trashes me? No. My time and energy are limited and nobody is actually entitled to it. At a minimum, to obtain my active, activist support, you need to treat me like a human being.
Am I going to require radical feminists to do something I am not willing to do? No.
“Well, I wouldn’t call it a defense at all but this comment
‘I have long thought that the paranoia surrounding TERFs and their supposed presence everywhere is problematic, but in many spaces, saying so is a good way to get yourself labeled a TERF.’
was pretty fucking ridiculous.”
You know what? You’re right. It really was. And I apologize. Next time I’ll think before I talk or just shut up a bit more.
I’m in a weird place in my life where I’m realizing that a lot of my own transphobia manifests as anger because I’m not really sure what’s going on with my identity. Kinda like the closeted homophobes. But I need to not make that other peoples’ problem.
Again, I apologize. It was out of line.
Thank you LG, for modeling how to remove your foot from your mouth. I’d really like to not go through this all again, as a general thing, and I feel like a lot of it does just need more “nope, not replying right now, I’ll get back to it after some tea (or whatever)”
So yeah, thanks for that, and, as always, fuck Brennan.
PS shut up Woody!
Related to original topic (not the ridiculous trans smearing of the right wing, but the shooter and his motives)…
Supreme Court shoots down Wisconsin law designed to restrict abortion rights! Setting precedence for the same to happen throughout the country! Positive news is da best news.
“Radical feminists who are not trans-exclusionary exist, and in my experience are the majority of radfems.”
100% true, the vast majority are trans inclusive, it is only a small (very vocal though) minority that are TERFs, most from (or identify with) that 80s feminist period.
They are weird people though, take Germaine Greer, her hatred of trans people (trans women especially) extends to a hatred of intersex women too. In her book ‘The Whole Woman’ she devoted pages attacking intersex women as ‘failed males’, ‘incomplete males’, ‘spurious females’. And in her view all trans men are caused by medical conditions….
Sheila Jefferys in her book ‘Unpacking Queer Politics’ endlessly atacked gay males, butch/femme lesbians, marriage and marriage equality, anyone (of any gender or sexuality) that showed any feminity* and just about everyone under the Queer umbrella (trans people too of course).
They also have a weird order of priorities, at the top of the hate list are trans people (again especially trans women). They are seen as far worse than right wing, religious, misogynist men, so they feel free (and do) to team up with them against trans people.
Just on a sheer numbers and power levels basis those right wing, religious, misogynist men vastly outnumber trans people AND have far more political and economic power to attack women overall (and do so endlessly).
On that level trans people are like a couple of kids with pop guns compared to a vast well armed army. Using that rational analysis you’d think they would ignore trans people as irrelevant (even if they hated them) and concentrate on the right wing men…..nope.
So you do wonder at their mentality and especially their intelligence at times.
* Gay males knitting in public were actually attacking women according to her…
I was going to comment on the TERF thing but
1) as usual, whatever I wanted to say has been said a million times better by others, this time namely Policy of Madness.
2) had to take my meds to day so I’m pretty much semi-stoned and I feel more like putting on a Peter, Paul & mary album and staring at my hands.
Holy Shit!
I want a epic beard like that, that is dope… I wouldnt assume anyone can grow one tho, The guys I know havent had that much success. Then again, everyone I know is poor so…
still good to know. one of my dreams just became more possible…
@booburry
Thanks for pointing that out. I agree, that part was not very helpful.
“to day”? Really? That’s almost creative typoing.
uhm, some trans women talking about how a hate group harasses them doesnt mean all trans people are attacking “radical feminists” whatever that label actually means. When we say TERFs, the T.E. is the relevent part. When we say “men harass women” we dont mean all men either, and men should still support women’s rights. Trans women are feminists, radically feminist, Id say. Also nonbinary trans people and trans men exist.
@kale
This has been acknowledged, right?