Gay congressman tells ‘idiots’ claiming Wisconsin shooter was trans to ‘f**k off’
Equality Caucus chair Mark Pocan hit out at the “idiots” who claimed the Wisconsin shooter was trans. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
The chairman of the congressional Equality Caucus, Mark Pocan, has told “idiots” claiming that the Wisconsin school shooter was transgender, to “f**k off”.
Police were called to the Abundant Life Christian School, in Wisconsin’s capital Madison, on Monday morning (16 December) after a pupil opened fire, leaving one teacher and a teenaged student dead. Six others were injured.
The shooter, identified as 15-year-old student Natalie Rupnow, who went by the name Samantha, later died from a self-inflicted injury. Shon Barnes, the police chief investigating the shooting, urged people to stop speculating about Samantha’s gender identity.
‘Your ignorance speaks volumes’
Now also talking about the speculation, US house of representatives Democrat Pocan, who is gay, wrote on X/Twitter: “To all the idiots who claimed the shooter was trans, with no information whatsoever to believe that, f**k off.
“Your ignorance speaks volumes. Your hate is consuming your brains (or what’s left of them).”
His post was in response to one by former representative Matt Gaetz who, following president Joe Biden’s call for tougher gun laws, asked: “What about trans control instead?”
To all the idiots who claimed the shooter was trans with no information whatsoever to believe that, f**k off.
— Mark Pocan (@MarkPocan) December 17, 2024
Your ignorance speaks volumes. Your hate is consuming your brains (or what’s left of them). https://t.co/nBVDbtvEKW
Police chief Barnes has already said: “I don’t know whether Natalie was transgender or not. And quite frankly, I don’t think that’s important at all. I don’t think whatever happened has anything to do with how she or he or they may want to identify.”
Police are now reportedly reviewing the “manifesto” of Natalie Rupnow. A law enforcement source told CNN that Rupnow “had been dealing with problems and expressed some of those in writings, which they are now reviewing”.
The Equality Caucus works to ensure LGBTQ+ rights and for the repeal of laws that are discriminatory to queer people.
In a press release announcing his position as chairman two years ago, Pocan said it needed to “forcibly push back against, and defeat” the rising anti-LGBTQ+ “hate, legislation and violence” in the US.
“We will also continue to push forward a positive vision for full inclusivity and equality of LGBTQI+ people in this country,” he added.
In a 2012 blog post for Our Lives, a local LGBTQ+ media outlet in Wisconsin, Pocan revealed that when he was 23 he was beaten by someone with a baseball bat after leaving a gay bar, called a string of names, including the “F” slur, and left unconscious and bloody on the street.
Some right-wing social media influencers and conservative politicians have often been quick to claim that transgender people were responsible for shootings in recent years – often without any evidence to back up their allegations.
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