Right-wingers spread misinformation about megachurch shooting to stoke fears of “trans terrorism”

The far-right has circulated false information suggesting that the Texas megachurch shooter, who injured two people on Sunday, was transgender.

It’s their latest attempt to bolster their unfounded narrative that transgender individuals are inherently violent and push forward the idea that “trans terrorism” is a valid concern. 

Houston police have said that the shooter, Genesse Ivonne Moreno, identified as a female despite being connected to a man’s name – including Jeffery Escalante and Jeffery Escalante-Moreno. 

“She has utilized both male and female names,” said Christopher Hassig, commander of the Houston Police Department’s homicide division. “But through all of our investigation to this point talking with individuals, interviews, documents, Houston Police Department reports, she has been identified as female. She. Her. And so we are identifying her as Genesse Moreno, Hispanic female.”

While Houston police haven’t identified a precise motive for Moreno’s assault, reports have surfaced indicating that she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, made antisemitic remarks during a dispute with Jewish relatives and underwent a contentious divorce. However, there is limited evidence supporting claims that she identified with a gender other than female, The Houston Chronicle reported.

The shooter also has a long criminal record which includes, forgery, theft, assault of a detention officer, and unlawful carrying of a weapon, Vice reported. 

On Monday, the account Libs of TikTok, which has been accused of instigating bomb threats against schools for spreading anti-LGBTQ+ grooming conspiracy theories, posted a document online that suggested the shooter had used the name “Jeffrey.”

“The Lakewood Church shooter was transgender,” Libs of TikTok said. “Another act of trans terrorism. We need to have a national conversation about the LGBTQ movement turning youth into violent extremists.”

The post was amplified by prominent conservative figures including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump Jr.

“Per capita, violent trans extremists have to have become the most violent group of people anywhere in the world,” Don Jr wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Chaya Raichik, the far-right activist who created the account, also posed the question “what kind of hormones and drugs was the trans terrorist who shot up the Texas church taking?” 

Other social media users started spreading false claims about Moreno’s gender identity. 

One user wrote: “BREAKING: Lakewood Church shooter identified as transgender, legal name Genesse Moreno but went by the name ‘Jeffrey.’” Her post received almost 5,000 shares and 4.7 million views. The same user suggested that “Transgender ideology kills.”

Some people even claimed that Moreno had been born as Jeffery, but went by Genesse as part of her transition, The Associated Press reported. While officials haven’t found any evidence that Moreno was transgender, police said she used male and female aliases. However, investigators who looked at past police reports determined she identified as female.

Other baseless claims were also made about her immigration status, even as public documents indicate she was in the country legally, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Claims about her gender identity seem to have originated from MSNBC reporting Monday morning before the press conference that Moreno was “a Hispanic transgender woman,” according to Media Matters. Right-wing and anti-trans influencers quickly picked up the story, and Fox News also started pushing out falsehoods reporting that “the shooter identifies as a woman. … She was born a man.”

Ari Drennen, who is the LGBTQ+ program director for Media Matters, said that the narrative in both right-wing and mainstream media, which formed from early police reports is “adding fuel to a moral panic as legislators in Washington, D.C., and across the country push a raft of laws restricting the lives of trans people in the United States.”

Raichik and far-right outlets are using a “horrific” shooting to “gin up anti-LGBTQ+ hysteria” in order to dehumanize an already marginalized community of people, Jared Todd, senior press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, told Salon. 

Media Matters has confirmed at least 35 incidents in which individuals targeted in Libs of TikTok posts subsequently faced threats or harassment. Raichik has previously also accused an innocent and unrelated trans woman of perpetrating the fatal mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022. 

Similarly, Daily Wire personality Candace Owens and InfoWars founder Alex Jones also pushed out the Uvalde school shooting hoax, which originated on the messaging board 4chan, Media Matters found. 

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“In truth, LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately impacted by gun violence, a reality made worse by those like Libs of TikTok, who finds twisted joy in demonizing our community to advance harmful, absurd falsehoods,” Todd said. “Their goal is clear as day: Use anything at their disposal, including vilifying trans people, to spread misinformation to try to erase an entire community. It’s cruel and shameful.”

A recent report by Everytown for Gun Safety sheds light on a concerning trend, indicating an increase in homicides of transgender individuals throughout the country, particularly concentrated in Southern states.

In 2023, there were 35 reported homicides of transgender or gender-expansive individuals, with guns being involved in 80% of these cases, according to the report. The majority of this violence is directed towards Black transgender women, accounting for 50% of the gun-related homicides in 2023.

Nearly half of the incidents involving guns are in the South due to a combination of lax gun laws and discriminatory legislation, Sarah Burd-Sharps, senior director of research at Everytown for Gun Safety told The Advocate.

“It’s a combination of weak legislation on hate crimes and the kind of new [anti-LGBTQ+] legislation that state governments are considering and passing that target transgender people for unequal treatment,” Burd-Sharps said, the outlet reported. 

Social factors, along with “legislative hostility,” contribute to the vulnerability of transgender individuals, Burd-Sharps added. Discrimination pushes them to the edges of society, increasing their risk of violence.