Assume camaraderie, not attack. Sometimes, more impassioned parts of conversation can lead us to feel we are being put on the defensive, but, in principled discussion, this should not be the case. It is not you versus your conversation partners; it is critical to remember that you are trying to deepen your communal understanding. You can’t “win” a discussion. 

Assume your comrades in conversation carry trauma and difficult experiences with them. Statistically, this is a safe bet to make. An oft-cited 2015 study carried out by the World Mental Health Survey Consortium across 24 countries found an over 70% rate of traumatic event occurrence in adults, with nearly 30.5% of participants exposed to more than four traumatic events.¹ This does not account for protracted traumatic situations or the violence of living as an oppressed person under capitalism. Life is difficult for all of us in different ways and to different degrees; it is best to be mindful and sensitive rather than overly frank or matter-of-fact when discussing difficult topics. 

Check-in before going too deep on difficult matters. It is a good idea to ask “is it okay if I talk about…” rather than risk triggering or activating group participants, especially if you intend on discussing something activating in graphic or frank detail. It also needs to be okay with you if the answer from your discussion partners is “no.” Consent is critical in all interpersonal relationships  and we need to work together to create environments where everyone feels comfortable contributing. 

It is generally better to summarize or paraphrase harmful and violent viewpoints rather than to quote or “parrot” them directly, even if your intention is to disprove them. Quoting right-wing thinkers still exposes your comrades to violent and possibly triggering rhetoric, even if you are making fun of it or tearing it down. This is unnecessary and can be avoided (or at least lessened) by generally summarizing conversations or ideas. 

Be open-minded to criticism. If a group member expresses discomfort, calls you in on a point, or critiques an idea or point you’ve made, take it as a call to reflect and grow. Though it can be difficult to internalize, criticism is not a personal attack, nor is it an invitation to become aggressive or defensive.

Take breaks if needed. Your mental health and well-being are more important than continuous participation in the conversation. You are not weak or a bad comrade for needing to take a break from an uncomfortable or intense discussion.

Share the mic. If any one person speaks for too long, power imbalances can start to take shape within a group. If you have not spoken much during a discussion and want to share, do so if you are able. If you have been doing a lot of speaking, give others a turn in order to facilitate healthy group dynamics. No one person needs to speak on every piece of a discussion. 

Don’t play “devil’s advocate” to prove a point. If your argument is strong enough to share, it is strong enough to stand on its own without introducing a potentially harmful invisible critic. 

For Facilitators:

Address the possible sensitive nature of the discussion upfront when tackling difficult topics. This helps keep the discussion space courteous and discourages overly callous or matter-of-fact conversation.

Return to the original intention of the question if the conversation gets too heated or too uncomfortable. This will aid participants in remembering their intentions for the discussion space and anchor them in the space’s purpose if they begin to drift from discomfort or anxiety.

Consider establishing a word or phrase that halts discussion on the present topic entirely. If the conversation is going to be especially difficult, consider establishing a “safe word” like “halt” that will trigger a break in the conversation, no questions asked. Being able to claim this power in potentially harmful or triggering situations can make a huge difference in comfort and safety to participants living with trauma. 

Encourage and de-stigmatize taking breaks. Remind participants of the critical importance of their mental health and reassure them that taking breaks does not mean they are less valued or less powerful in the discussion space. Creating intentional break time framed by a facilitator acknowledging that they need a break can also help break down this potential stigma. It also does not necessarily indicate conflict or wrongdoing on the part of other discussion participants; sometimes the group just needs a break!

Diffuse moments of high tension by acknowledging them. Saying something along the lines of “this conversation feels tense, let’s step back for a moment” can improve the health of the discussion space by acknowledging what some participants may not feel brave enough to say aloud themselves. 

Create an environment where it is safe to speak up if a participant feels uncomfortable. Regularly asking something like “how are we all feeling about this conversation” or otherwise soliciting feedback and/or commentary can go a long way towards this point. Let participants know that you can provide them with resources or further support where applicable. 

Shut down overly inflammatory remarks. This may seem obvious, but sometimes a speaker can get carried away and it can be difficult to interrupt them. Doing so, especially if you notice other participants reacting adversely, is one of the most critical responsibilities of a facilitator. 

Try not to let any one participant monopolize the conversation. This can also be difficult, but phrases such as “I’d love to hear from folks who haven’t answered questions as much yet” can go a long way in maintaining the health of the discussion space.  

Be open-minded to criticism. Just as you would as a participant, take any critiques of your facilitation style or skills as a reminder that we all have room to grow as facilitators, comrades, and human beings. Try to listen carefully to criticism and not be too hard on yourself when it arises. 

¹ Benjet, C., et al. “The Epidemiology of Traumatic Event Exposure Worldwide: Results from the World Mental Health Survey Consortium.” Psychological Medicine, vol. 46, no. 2, 2016, pp. 327–343., doi:10.1017/S0033291715001981.

Information obtained from social media indicates that the 28-year-old shooter, who was at first identified by police as a woman, may in fact have been a transgender man.

We do not know the perpetrator’s motive. Police stated that the killer was suffering from, and receiving treatment from a doctor for, an “emotional disorder” related to the loss of a friend. His parents stated that they did not believe their son owned any weapons, and that he shouldn’t have been allowed to, due to his psychological condition. We also know that the killer formerly attended the Covenant School. The victims appear to have been shot at random.

Despite the uncertainties surrounding the Covenant School shooter’s motive and the little we know about his psychological profile, the latest concerted anti-trans narrative, already spinning through this country’s corporate media and its halls of power, goes that transgender people are, by virtue of being trans, by virtue of existing, mentally ill and prone to violence, and must be deprived of the right to own and bear arms, intensively policed, driven underground, and institutionalized.

To no one’s surprise — other than the beady-eyed, sieg-heiling drones who make a habit of watching Fox News and other fascist media — the facts don’t line up with the latest anti-trans scapegoating. A database compiled by the Violence Project shows that an overwhelming 97.7% of all known mass shooters have been cisgender men; all of the remaining 2.3%, with one exception — the latest mass shooting at the Covenant School — have been cisgender women. That means that the Covenant School mass shooting is likely the first in history committed by a transgender person of either gender.

This week’s tragedy-exploitation and scapegoating is only the latest push in a years-long campaign that has been ruthlessly waged by the right-wing of U.S. fascism to eliminate the civil rights of transgender people.

Only through a century and more of persistent struggle, and only thanks to immeasurable personal sacrifices borne by our communities and our activists, have LGBT people in this country gained even a modicum of social acceptance, safety, civil rights, and equality before the law.

But particularly in the last few years, with the ascendance of a new breed of rabid Trumpites, an increasingly fascistic Republican Party is going on the offensive in the Federal and state governments against LGBT, and especially transgender, rights. This offensive includes legislation to deprive transgender children of healthcare, to ban drag shows and crossdressing, and to redefine gender along incoherently “biological” lines. According to a mapping project created by the American Civil Liberties Union, 435 anti-LGBT bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country in 2023, already breaking the previous record of 315 set in 2022. The vast majority of these bills have been and will continue to be defeated in their state legislatures, but that will not deter the Republican Party’s anti-LGBT crusade; the small minority that have passed severely curtail the rights of LGBT people, and the fascists will take every last inch of ground they can.

The GOP’s anti-LGBT crusade also coincides with its offensive against reproductive rights — bans on abortion, contraception, and other reproductive healthcare. These assaults have been enabled by the right-fascist Supreme Court’s decision in the 2022 case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the federal right to an abortion, ruled “constitutionally” protected by the Court in its decision in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case.

The State of Tennessee, where the Covenant School mass shooting took place, has itself been swept up in this anti-LGBT crusade.

On Friday, March 31, a Trump-appointed federal judge ordered a two-week delay on the implementation of a new Tennessee law, passed by a Republican-supermajority state legislature, aimed at banning drag shows across the state, citing its possible infringement upon First Amendment rights to freedom of speech. The judge’s order followed a legal challenge by a Memphis venue that often hosts drag shows.

Tennessee is also one of 11 states that have recently passed laws banning gender-affirming healthcare to transgender youth (with some laws restricting healthcare up to ages 21 and 26) and criminalizing medical doctors who provide transgender healthcare services. The legislatures of around 20 other states are considering similar bans. This is despite the wide consensus among experts and advocates that access of transgender youth to gender-affirming healthcare presents no danger, drastically improves quality of life, and lowers risk of suicide — a critical factor, given the extremely high rates of depression and suicidality among transgender youth.

Unfortunately, scientific consensus and advocacy alone won’t make a dent in the current anti-LGBT crusade. Fascists are not concerned with science or ethics. Fascism, by its very nature, embraces irrationality, pseudoscience, and cruelty. The objective harms wreaked upon vulnerable LGBT youth by anti-LGBT legislation is precisely its purpose. It is a policy of elimination.

In Nebraska, State Senator Machaela Cavanaugh began a filibuster in February in an attempt to block a bill barring minors from receiving gender-affirming healthcare. “If you want to inflict pain on our children, I am going to inflict pain upon this body,” she said. On March 16 of this year, Kentucky Republicans passed a similar ban in the face of mass public opposition, including those in the gallery of the Kentucky senate who screamed at the body. State Senator Berg, who lost her transgender son Henry to suicide this year, said “This is absolutely willful hate for a small group of people that are the weakest and most vulnerable.” As the bill passed despite her valiant efforts to block it, she openly wept.

The point of this fascist anti-LGBT crusade is simple: The Republicans are exploiting anti-LGBT and other reactionary beliefs and moods among large sectors of the public in order to regain their lost popularity. In order to recoup the GOP’s 2020 general elections losses (largely owing to mass discontent and disgust with the fascist Donald Trump administration), and their party’s lackluster performance in the 2022 midterms (which, in spite of the actively decaying Joe Biden’s souring public image and unpopularity, did not deliver a GOP “clean sweep” of both houses of Congress), the extreme-right Republicans are presenting themselves as the party of conservative Christian morality and regression in an era marked by expanding civil liberties.

There is also a struggle raging within the GOP: the “moderate” right-wing old guard, who have controlled the party since the 1980s, and the extreme-right Trumpites, who want to consolidate their growing influence in the Republican voter base, supplant the old “moderate” tendency, and establish themselves as the party’s dominant wing.

While the anti-LGBT crusade advances through the Federal and state governments and the U.S. court system, civilian-fascist militias are assembling in the streets, threatening to massacre transgender and gender-nonconforming people at bars, nightclubs, and other public venues. Only a few months ago, in November 2022, a fascist terrorist, motivated by anti-trans hatred and provoked by anti-trans news media sensationalism, stormed the LGBT-friendly Club Q nightclub in Colorado Springs, murdering five people before he was tackled to the ground by patrons and staff, disarmed, and beaten into incapacitation.

On the other “side” of U.S. politics, the Covenant School shooting has reignited calls by some sections of the Democratic Party, led by President Biden himself, for stricter “gun control” legislation, including a ban on military-grade rifles. Some well-meaning LGBT liberals believe that this liberal approach is the “answer” to the U.S. Empire’s “gun violence” epidemic. But the truth of the matter is that this horrific epidemic cannot be treated, let alone cured, with any amount of liberal reforms, for mass violence is, in the final analysis, nothing but the expression of ascending fascism, and fascism is built into the U.S. Empire’s very foundations: Fascism is the logical conclusion to centuries of the most barbaric regime of settler-colonialism, white supremacy, slavery, and world imperialism in history. The only “cure” is the utter abolition of the illegitimate U.S. Empire; only by overthrowing our capitalist rulers, dismantling their empire, and decolonizing this continent can U.S. fascism, and its attendant mass violence, be eliminated once and for all.

We know well that transgender people are far more likely to be the victims of violent crimes, including mass shootings, than the perpetrators. We must anticipate that violence against our friends, loved ones, and communities will only intensify and accelerate in lockstep with political and legal efforts to eliminate our civil rights and drive us back underground. We must prepare ourselves and our communities accordingly. Our oppressors will not voluntarily relinquish their arms; we must not relinquish ours. Our oppressors will not conscientiously emancipate us — they have no conscience. We must emancipate ourselves.

As we wrote last year, in the aftermath of the Colorado Springs massacre, LGBT people must defend ourselves. We must safeguard our own communities by arming and organizing ourselves for community self-defense — against civilian-fascist terrorists, against police brutality, and against an increasingly fascistic government, captured by political forces that openly declare their plans to exterminate us.