Since the tragic Covenant School shooting in Nashville on March 27th, the capitalist media and fascist reactionaries have begun a campaign of defamation on several trans women. Kayla Denker, a trans communist and armed community defense advocate, as well as Alana McLaughlin, a trans MMA fighter of similar political background, have been continuously slandered as terrorists, antifa thugs, extremists, and supporters of Audrey Hale, the perpetrator of the Covenant School shooting. In typical fashion, the capitalist promise of free speech and free press seems to only mean the right of the ruling class to lie with impunity while silencing and drowning out the truth. It would seem ruining the life of upstanding citizens is of no consequence to the fearmongering corporate media when profit can be made from inciting outrage!

Two particularly harmful lies have been boosted by the mainstream press. On March 5th, Ms. Denker posted a video on TikTok and Twitter posing with a rifle and a caption supporting armed self defense:

However, after the Nashville shooting, right-wing trolls sent her video viral, insinuating that it was published after the shooting and in solidarity with Audrey Hale. This blatant lie was then picked up on by the Daily Mail, who not only repeated the lie — and as of writing this article, the lie remains published — but the article as originally published called her an Antifa member and implied a connection between her and a “Trans Day of Vengeance” march — which had also been scheduled prior to the shooting. Ms. Denker has made clear she has no affiliation with any organizations and was not involved with organizing any march. In a follow-up video responding to the press coverage, she resolutely refuted any connection with or sympathy for Audrey Hale, condemning his actions. Similar coverage was made by Newsweek, though the story has since been edited to reflect proper chronology.

Even with a late (and partial) correction to the record, it’s clear that the damage of the inflammatory rhetoric and defamation has already been done, as Ms. Denker privately expressed fears that she may lose her Archeology job over the overwhelming onslaught of character assassination from the press and social media.

It seems that Ms. Denker’s fears were well founded. After two weeks of probation — enough time for the media to move on — she was indeed fired from her job as an archeologist. Where are the crusaders against cancel-culture who will defend a trans woman wrongfully terminated over pressure from social media? Where are our valiant defenders of free speech? Apparently nowhere to be found! And as if potentially ruining a woman’s career were not enough, Ms. Denker has also been the victim of an onslaught of personal hate, harassment, and even death threats. Apparently the volume of death threats reached such an unprecedented degree that the FBI contacted her to warn her about them and even encouraged her to remain armed.

Then there is the coverage of Alana McLaughlin — or rather, a right-wing sock puppet account posing as Alana:

This is not Ms. McLaughlin’s account, nor her words. Any child could easily recognize this cartoonishly villainous monologue as bait intended to incite feelings of victimhood in Christian nationalists. And yet the excellent journalists of the Daily Mail, with all the integrity of a used condom, uncritically shared the post without investigation, going so far as to label the troll as an “activist.” Such malpractice! Such apathy to truth! It’s truly unforgivable. Furthermore, as a trans woman in sports, Ms. McLaughlin is certainly no stranger to controversy; commenting on the disinformation, she simply expressed intentions to sue the Daily Mail:

This is not simply the honest failure of the journalism industry, nor even simply the opportunism of individual actors in the market. Ms Denker and McLaughlin are simply casualties amid a coordinated push to target the rights of all trans people, who are being held collectively responsible for the actions of Mr. Hale. Take, for example, Benny Johnson, production chief at Turning Point USA, who tweeted to an audience of over a million people that: “One thing is VERY clear: the modern trans movement is radicalizing activists into terrorists.” Former president Donald Trump, as well as representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, both publicly speculated about the role of hormones in Mr. Hale’s actions, despite no evidence that he was even on hormone replacement therapy — let alone in lieu of any evidence that masculinizing HRT causes violent aggression in trans men. Donald Trump Jr. similarly expressed that “there’s a clear epidemic of trans/non-binary mass shooters.” Ben Shapiro, infamous fascist pundit and media personality, went so far as to advocate banning trans people from owning firearms. These sentiments are a clear pattern of escalating fascist rhetoric from the far-right demagogues in media and politics.

As the American Empire loses its grasp on its position in the current imperialist order, as conditions within the empire continue to deteriorate and destabilize, it is increasingly imperative for fascists to manufacture a scapegoat responsible for all the woes of society — lest people develop class consciousness and turn against the capitalist system. Between the necessity to create such a bogeyman, and between the financial imperatives of profit-driven and advertisement funded “news” networks to prioritize clicks and views beyond all else, this hate mongering is the inevitable result. Capitalism, decaying empires, they breed hate and fear to sow division among the ranks of the working class, to prevent unity and solidarity, to prevent revolution. Only once political and economic power has been seized and nationalized by the working class can this crisis of disinformation be resolved! Only then can fascism be vanquished for good! Only then can transmisogyny be destroyed!

As for Ms. Denker, like all the other casualties of the capitalist press, she is now left to fend for herself. Please consider contributing to her gofundme campaign to cover legal and survival funds.

“This is going to continue to happen. Trans people are going to be targeted. The sheriffs won’t be held accountable… Because our legislators don’t care about us.”

— Annie Jump Vicente, reflecting on her arrest a week prior.

On December 7th, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department arrested Annie Jump, a West Hollywood resident and police abolitionist, who was returning home to her apartment with her groceries. The sheriffs had apparently arrived to investigate a completely separate domestic violence call, which had turned out to be a false report. As Annie explained to us, there actually had been ongoing domestic violence in the building, but the survivor had left earlier that morning; hence, without a genuine exigent circumstance, the sheriffs required either a warrant or an invitation to enter the building. On her way into the apartment, Annie thus refused entry to the sheriffs, who subsequently grabbed and handcuffed her, slammed her head into the nearby wall, and detained her.

As Annie had to keep reminding the sheriffs, she is a trans woman, and yet the sheriffs persistently misgendered her before, during, and after the arrest. They also claimed that she was impeding their investigation, though they had no right to enter the building. Part of this encounter was caught on film by Annie’s roommate.

A later video was also published online, at which point 10 sheriffs had arrived and Annie was being held face down outside of a police vehicle. After Annie berated the sheriffs for doing nothing to stop domestic violence and for continuing to misgender her, she can be seen being carried off into the nearby vehicle.

At no point did the police read her Miranda rights, at no point did they tell her that she’s under arrest or being detained, and at no point did they command her to stop resisting. Annie’s injuries were not adequately treated, and since we last spoke to her, she said she’s had a persistent headache ever since. She maintains that the way she was mishandled and abused by the sheriffs was not only a violation of her rights, but was also motivated by transmisogyny — and she further speculates that the sheriff’s hostilities towards her may have been retribution for her political activism, in which she has repeatedly demanded the city council to defund the sheriff’s department.

As it stands, anyone would be well within reason to distrust LASD and to treat them as a potential danger. It’s been long known that violent deputy gangs operate from within LASD — in fact, the city’s civilian oversight commission recently acknowledged this formally, though they wouldn’t even entertain the idea of firing the deputy gang members. Gang members or not, the police and deputies are well known for their violence and discrimination. On another occasion, Annie’s leasing agent had threatened to kick her out of the apartment because she’s transgender; Annie had attempted to report this incident as a hate crime, but the sheriffs refused to take a statement. In fact, this isn’t even the first time the sheriffs have investigated domestic violence in the building. According to Annie, the sheriffs had been to the apartment on seven other occasions responding to a domestic violence call, and each time they did nothing about it — again, not even taking a statement. If sheriffs are well known for their violence and scarcely known for helping, could anyone honestly blame Annie for not permitting the sheriffs entrance to the apartment? We hold that they could not!

We interviewed Annie a week after her arrest, and she was able to tell us more about the circumstances leading up to and events following her arrest.

Members of the Lavender Guard will be meeting Annie along with the WeHo Social Justice Coalition to demand the new city council members to fire the deputies who arrested Annie and adopt a progressive agenda. For those local to LA county, you can help support the struggle by joining us at the city council meeting (625 San Vicente blvd, West Hollywood) on December 19th at 6pm and stand in solidarity with Annie Jump. If you’re feeling confident, please give a public comment demanding the deputies involved be fired and the Council adopt The People’s Agenda. 

Near midnight on Saturday, November 19, the LGBT community of Colorado Springs, CO was shaken by yet another anti-LGBT mass shooting in the U.S. Empire. The site of the shooting was Club Q, a popular nightclub and a cultural fixture and “award-winning” venue, that served as a “safe place” for the Colorado Springs LGBT community. One survivor described Club Q as “a place we love, a place of peace, a place to be ourselves.” The perpetrator, armed with an AR-15 or similar rifle and a handgun, and wearing body armor, according to a Colorado Springs PD official, opened fire, killing at least five people and injuring at least 25; as of this moment, two of the hospitalized victims reportedly remain in critical condition.

The identities of the victims have been made available to the public: Daniel Aston (he/him), 28, a transgender man who worked as a bartender at Club Q, and that night was performing at the club; Derrick Rump (he/him), a bartender at Club Q; Kelley Loving (she/her), 40, a transgender woman who was visiting Colorado Springs and was at Club Q as a patron; Raymond Green Vance (he/him), 22, a patron visiting Club Q with his girlfriend, who identified as a pro-LGBT ally; and Ashley Paugh (she/her), 35, a patron.

Critically, the shooting took place during a drag show; it was also the night before the international Transgender Day of Rememberance (TDOR), a commemoration started in 1999 and observed annually on November 20 to memorialize all transgender people who’ve been lost to murder. So far in 2022, the murders of more than 30 transgender people have been reported — but the real figures are much higher.

Club Q had publicly advertised plans to host an “all ages drag brunch” on the morning of Sunday, November 20, to celebrate Transgender Day of Rememberance.

In recent months, fascists across the U.S. Empire have focused particularly on attacking drag shows. For instance, this summer, similarly themed family-friendly drag brunches were targeted by Christian-fascist organizations in Dallas and Houston, Texas. The fascists accused the LGBT community of attempting to “indoctrinate” children. Such organized anti-LGBT actions have been promoted by fascists in the media, and their demands have received political support from some extreme-right elected officials, such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has threatened to have parents who take their children to LGBT-friendly venues charged with child abuse. Meanwhile, in recent years, across the country, Republican-controlled state governments are instituting laws to criminalize the parents of transgender children, as well as pro-trans doctors and other medical professionals, by legally redefining gender-affirming healthcare as child abuse; other laws compel public schools to misgender and otherwise discriminate against transgender children. This is despite the fact that gender-affirming healthcare is safe, improves quality of life, and significantly reduces the risk of suicide in a section of the population that is particularly vulnerable. The Democrats, meanwhile, have stood idly by — as is their role in the duopoly of American fascism.

Fascists across the U.S. Empire have become increasingly emboldened to commit anti-LGBT hate crimes, especially against transgender and gender-variant people. Mass shootings and other acts of targeted anti-LGBT violence are becoming the norm, rather than the exception.

Despite this, in a truly shameful fashion, the Colorado Springs PD and the FBI have conspicuously declined to characterize the mass shooting as a hate crime; the chief of police stated to reporters that the terrorist’s motive has yet to be determined. When asked whether the terrorist attack would be investigated as a hate crime, the local district attorney said, “this will be investigated and is being investigated in that lens,” but that specific charges had not yet been determined, and whether to charge the suspect with a hate crime was still under consideration. Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers has acknowledged that the mass shooting “has all the appearances of a hate crime,” but then cautioned that the suspect’s motive was still under investigation. Other Democratic politicians, including President Biden, have characterized the mass shooting as an attack on the LGBT community.

Evidently, the terrorist, now identified as Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, was arrested in June 2021, after threatening to harm his mother, who called the police. Aldrich had threatened to make a homemade bomb, and planned to procure a stockpile of weapons. Aldrich at first barricaded himself inside his house, but police negotiators eventually managed to convince him to surrender himself, at which point he was apprehended. He was charged with multiple felonies, including kidnapping.

A friend of the terrorist’s mother said in an interview, “Why is he not in jail, after that happening? After that initial day, police never reached out… [F]or him to be out there, and [to] have access to weapons after that incident, I don’t understand it.”

The Gazette, a Colorado newspaper, reported that the charges against Aldrich were ultimately dropped, and his case sealed; the reason has not been revealed. Interestingly, however, according to Heavy, Aldrich is the grandson of a Colorado state assemblyman, Randy Voepel, an extreme-right Republican who supported Trump’s January 6, 2021 coup attempt, in which hundreds of MAGA fascists stormed the U.S. Capitol. It is possible that Aldrich was freed after leveraging this political connection.

It is unsurprising that the terrorist has such a history, and it is just as unsurprising that he was ultimately set free, and allowed to continue plotting violence. This is not the first time that a fascist domestic terrorist has been known to police before committing a mass shooting; it is not the first time that police have been warned in advance, and failed to act.

If the enemy state truly wanted to stop these mass shootings, then this fascist terrorist, like so many before him, would have been apprehended by “red flag” laws. It’s no coincidence that so many mass shooters have had violent histories — in particular, histories of threatening women and LGBT people — and criminal records. Granted the most generous interpretation of the facts, we may condemn the enemy state incompetent, that is, incapable of preventing fascist violence and protecting oppressed communities. The truth, however, is that the enemy state is not incompetent, but actively malicious.

At a fundamental level, the U.S. Empire’s criminal justice system, from the police to the courts to the prisons, is not designed to prevent violence against the oppressed and marginalized masses, against women and LGBT people, against the poor — against anyone, except for the most privileged sections of the ruling classes. The U.S. criminal justice system is fundamentally designed for one, and only one, purpose: To protect the private property and the general class-interests of the ruling classes, first and foremost the monopoly-capitalists.

This mass shooting was no different. In the end, the police did not save the LGBT community gathered at Club Q — the community saved themselves.

According to reports based on statements from city officials, police, Club Q’s official social media, and survivor testimony, the shooting ended within minutes, when multiple Club Q patrons, including a transgender woman, tackled, disarmed, “beat up,” and subdued the terrorist, several minutes before police and emergency medical services arrived. While reports continue to emerge, and the facts continue to be gathered, a clear picture is developing. One survivor recounted at a vigil on Sunday that the bartender on shift at Club Q “jumped in front of the gunman,” sacrificing his life to protect the patrons. The bartender’s sacrifice allowed a patron to charge the shooter, “grab a handgun” from him, and hit him with it, knocking him down. According to the Club Q owners, who reviewed security camera footage, after the first patron subdued the shooter, a second patron then got on top of the shooter and helped the first patron hold him down, pinning him on the floor until police arrived. “He saved dozens and dozens of lives. Stopped the man cold,” said one of the owners, referring to one of the patrons. One of the persons killed in the terrorist attack, Raymond Green Vance, lost his life while assisting his girlfriend and another patron in finding a hiding place.

Club Q posted the following statement on its Facebook page:

Club Q is devastated by the senseless attack on our community. Our [prayers] and thoughts are with all the victims and their families and friends. We thank the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack.

Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers praised the actions of the patrons, stating that “their actions clearly saved lives.” The chief of police made a similar comment.

The brave individuals who acted to defend their fellow patrons were, without a doubt, true heroes. To put one’s own body in the way of an armed fascist, intent on carrying out mass murder, would rightly be considered heroic under any circumstances. But the bravery of those patrons was not merely an isolated instance of heroism — it was an act of solidarity with their LGBT community. It was an act of community self-defense, of community self-reliance. And it is this spirit of community solidarity and community self-reliance that every conscious LGBT person must strive to embody and work to cultivate in our communities.

As the fascist garrison encircles our communities, where can we turn?

Not to elected officials, not to the police, and not to the courts — that much is clear. The police don’t keep us safe; the police keep us repressed, keep us threatened, keep us marginalized. The police aid and abet the fascists who seek to murder us and the police protect the government officials who seek to drive us back underground. Our LGBT forebears couldn’t be fooled by police-sponsored pride parades and “diversity training” copaganda. Our forebears knew what most of us still know, and what the rest of us must relearn: that the police are our enemies. The police are the front-line repressive arm of the fascist enemy state, of our oppressors.

The Democrats, the “moderate wing” of U.S. fascism, are once more calling for “gun control” — for disarming the masses. President Biden, long a supporter of banning “assault rifles,” was quoted as saying, “When will we decide we’ve had enough? We must address the public health epidemic of gun violence in all of its forms.” Meanwhile, the “liberal” side of the capitalist media is already pushing for “gun control” in the wake of this tragedy.

For many in our traumatized community, this liberal “solution” will hold considerable pathos, especially given that “gun rights” is an agenda associated with the same right-wing of fascism that continually perpetrates vigilante and state violence against us. But the truth is that, throughout the history of the U.S. Empire, gun control has only ever been used to disarm the oppressed; it has never been used to disarm the oppressor. On the other hand, we do not endorse the common right-wing slogan, “Only a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun,” which, in truth, is a call for more civilian-fascist settler militiamen to be deputized against racially oppressed people. Our slogan is that only by arming and organizing the oppressed can we disarm and overthrow our oppressors, their standing armies, and their civilian-fascist auxiliaries.

This slogan was issued by Karl Marx over 170 years ago:

Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; any attempt to disarm the workers must be frustrated, by force if necessary.

No, LGBT communities cannot rely on help from the fascist enemy state.

LGBT communities, especially transgender people, must collectively defend ourselves. In no uncertain terms, this means that we must begin arming and organizing ourselves, and our communities, for self-defense, and in so doing build collective self-reliance.

We keep us safe — no one else will.

We know that this is a daunting task. For transgender militants and comrades who are unsure of where to begin, we encourage you to reach out to the Lavender Guard, a new revolutionary organization focused on community self-defense, community self-reliance, and mutual aid.