Last Monday, a massacre took place at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. A gunman murdered three children and three staff members before being shot dead by police.

Mass shootings are unfortunately frequent in America, and the French press is happy to put them on the front page. Even more so when they involve LGBT minorities: it is an opportunity to give oneself a cheap token of tolerance, by accusing conservatives of "inciting hatred" - even when everything shows that they are not responsible.

So, in November 2022, a shooting took place in a gay club in Colorado Springs. Release in immediately accuse the " right American " and his attacks " obsessive " against " the queer and trans communities " The killer will nevertheless turn out to be... non-binary. No excuse, and not even any denial: smearing the "reacs" comes before any demand for truth.

But the Nashville shootings don't lend themselves well to political exploitation - worse, they'll get cold sweats. Not only is the target a Christian elementary school, but we learn that same evening that the killer is trans - and that the act takes place in a context of threats against local conservatives, who are about to ban sex change and drag shows for minors.

Panic among some journalists who sometimes excuse transactivist violence. And who will rush to minimize the affair. For once, the shooting will not be put on the front page, the embarrassing political context forgotten. The vaguest possible headlines will be written, and they will even try to cast doubt on the shooter's trans identity, supposedly "uncertain"... when he had clearly declared it on social networks, which is usually enough.

« Misgender " is therefore permitted, when it is to avoid admitting that a child murderer was trans: and above all to rule out the possibility of an act of political violence, on the part of a movement that some of our media have supported and justified from the beginning.

Libération

The information first appeared in Libération, Monday 27 before 17:00 p.m., in the form of a draft of a few lines. Before 22:00 p.m., a more complete version is published: it incriminates “a woman”.

In the evening, we learn that the murderer was a trans man. Liberated so correct his article the next morning, before 9:30. Compare the old and new titles:

The title has been completely rewritten – erasing any gender identity. Nothing would have been simpler, and even logical, than to replace “woman” with “trans man”: we wonder a little.

But the rest of the article is even more surprising. The assailant's transgender identity is only mentioned in one sentence... and then immediately called into question:  Doubts remain about his gender identity " But this is incorrect: there was no longer any "doubt" at the time of publication of the article, American journalists having shown thatAudrey/Aiden Hale clearly claimed to be a man.

And Libé will then take an absurd position: in " doubt ", while acknowledging that the assassin was demonstrating " a desire to use masculine pronouns " We think we are dreaming: for the very deconstructed Libération, always at the forefront on issues of gender freedom, declaring oneself a man is no longer enough to be one?

Whether or not he kept the female name "Audrey" is of no importance: many trans people do it. This sudden disrespect of the gender feeling is therefore very intriguing: and suggests that our journalist is doing his best not to use the words "trans man" in relation to the Nashville killer.

Another surprise: Libération does not mention the political context of the killings. While it does so willingly when it wants to accuse conservatives: and even then it almost has the value of proof. In theColorado Springs shooting article, the nature of the target alone (an LGBT club) was enough to place the blame for the attack on gender opponents, because of their rhetoric against " the trans community ».

In Nashville, the situation is symmetrical: the target is a conservative Christian school. But there, very curiously, Libé refrains from blaming the violent speeches of American transactivists, who have nevertheless become radicalized in recent months. We now hear them repeat that those who do not believe in gender are " genocidists ", against whom everything is permitted. And for the most extreme fringe, even armed struggle: militias and training camps (legal in the USA) are organized often with the support of former military personnel close to the Antifa movement.

And the political situation had become even more tense in recent weeks. In conservative states, the passage of several laws prohibiting the sex change of children had infuriated trans activists: who were planning to organize a "Trans Day of Vengeance", mass mobilization in front of the Capitol, to express their anger. One of these laws had just been voted in Nashville, and was to come into force a few days later: on social networks, the Threats against Tennessee conservatives were mounting.

Libération never alludes to this context, even though it is unique. And another curious point, the article on the Nashville shooting is not put on the front page… unlike the one on Colorado Spring and other shootings in the USA in general.

But we see that Libé is not the only one involved: other newspapers will deal with the subject with exactly the same inconsistencies, language elements, omissions... starting with the HuffPost.

The HuffPost (ex-HuffingtonPost)

The HuffPost publishes a first article the day of the massacre at 20:31 p.m., which incriminates a “woman.”

In the evening, we learn that it is a trans man. The newspaper does not correct the article, but publishes another one the next day at 6:57.

As with Libé, this article is not put on the front page – which is also very unusual. A front page that we prefer to devote to police violence, it is true, but also to return of a Canal+ series or toDisappointed opinion of a singer on the Victoires de la Musique...

The HuffPost, a little more honest, clearly specifies “transgender person” in the subtitle…

…but seems unable to talk about it without circumlocution. We specify each time that it is the police version : " identified by police as… "," referred to by the police as…. ».

It's curious: when the police singled out a woman, there was no need to constantly remind people of this... and we find, further down, the same absurd language as in Libération: " his profile seems to indicate a willingness to use masculine pronouns " Here again, we are blithely flouting the gender freedom which we are usually so concerned about: and the simple phrase "the murderer is a trans man" seems taboo.

At HuffPost, nothing either on the very particular context, the threats from transactivists and the possibility of a political motivation... but let's move on to what the major French radical left media outlet, Slate, has to say about it.

Slate

This will be brief: Slate simply chooses… to say nothing about it at all. However, the opportunity was not lacking: a dozen articles were published on the 27th, and again on the 28th. None of them concern a massacre whose images have nevertheless gone around the world: the online newspaper, although very committed to the fight against mass shootings, prefers to inform us of the Pink messaging fans in dismay and Dangers of wearing sneakers every day… No comments.

Le Monde

Let's end with Le Monde, which published the most comprehensive article – and the one which allows us to understand why part of the press was keen to minimise the affair.

Le Monde does not appear on Mondays: his article was only published on Tuesday 28th in the morning, and we already knew then that the murderer was trans: no correction was therefore necessary.

As expected, the title does not mention anything about the context. In fact, it is exceptionally vague: a shooting in an American school, the need to confiscate certain firearms…

The murderer's trans identity is indeed mentioned in the first paragraph, but again in the conditional: in the form of a " uncertainty " on his identity which would have " greatly agitated the American media the day before.

Uncertainty which no longer exists at all, as we have seen... but which Le Monde uses as a pretext to talk about in periphrases: Hale est serait " born a woman " But " claiming he/him »: that is to say the precise definition of a “trans man”… but in pieces. Here again, we wanted to describe the thing without saying the word.

The journalist will end up saying it… but in the HuffPost way: in quotation marks, to attribute it to the local police chief. And more cheekily, to immediately accuse him of “ inaccuracies»(Sic).

But finally, what inaccuracies are we talking about? Nashville Police Chief John Drake initially determined that the murderer who was shot was a woman. After investigating, he clarified that she was " identified as transgender "Subject-verb-complement, it's as clear as the report of a good cop.

The next line reveals that the accusation should have been read in reverse: the police chief's words were in fact too precise. The journalist accuses them of having " paved the way » to «speculation » on the relationship between the « identity question » of the assassin and his « criminal motives " (sic). Basically, people are wondering if Hale was killing conservatives' children out of trans activism... and the authorities shouldn't have been so blunt about it.

This is why our journalist and his colleagues feel compelled, on the contrary, to beat around the bush, to multiply fictitious "doubts" and "uncertainties", and not to call a spade a spade, and a trans person a trans person, when it comes to a possibly radicalised murderer: we must not " to open the door " to one " instrumentalization " "Instrumentalization", let us remember, is the nickname that the left gives to the reminder of facts that disturb it, whether on immigration, security or LGBT+ issues.

And here, we understand that it is very disturbing. Le Monde, like HuffPost and Libération, are very committed to the trans and queer cause, including in its most contested points: access for trans people to women's toilets, and drag queen shows for toddlers. Three child deaths do not give it good press.

The journalist then tries a diversion: after having forbidden any question on the killer's motivations ("instrumentalization!"), he brutally refers us to the only debate that matters to him: the question of weapons in the USA. As if a societal debate on the murder weapon could replace an examination of the motives, or the circumstances... it's pitiful.

But Le Monde is only imitating the (worn-out) strategy of American newspapers of the same persuasion. The Washington Post, for example, has pushed it to the point of caricature: the day after the murder, its
One was literally drowning in articles about the AR-15 assault rifle used by the shooter – the power of its ammunition, its uses, testimonies from its users…

Conversely, a single article, lost halfway down the page, gave some information about the assassin – and none to question his motivations, or evoke the political context. With a little humor (black, given the circumstances), we could call it non-journalism.

Not a word, either, on the worrying reactions of certain American transactivists on social networks. Which range from " Tennessee had it coming ! "to the terrifying" She was right, and I'm going to start arming myself too. "And murdering Christian children is "standing up to stop fascists"... (sic)

But what is most astonishing is that some of these cheers come from the ranks of Democratic officials, and not the least of them: here is the spokeswoman for the governor of Arizona, the very pro-trans Katie Hobbs:

Was the Nashville shootings politically motivated? We won't know until the end of the investigation: but seeing a section of the press banning the question in advance is already worrying.

And unfortunately, when it comes to trans activists, recurring: beatings, Speaker pack attack and frank calls for hatred (" TERFs to the stake! ") have been taking place for years without it ever being echoed. In the USA, we have even seen it received on major media, and often with benevolence, a transactivist whose only political program is… rioting and looting, " liberating and feminine »(Sic).

And this is not surprising: a part of the French intelligentsia is only playing its usual game, the one it played successively with Stalinism, the mad Maoism of the Cultural Revolution, the Khmer Rouge and the Iranian Islamic Revolution: forgiving everything about the fashionable ideology, and denying or excusing its bloody aspects as much as it can.

If only it were out of activism! But real activists are rare: it requires too much effort, whatever the cause. There are probably also few real wokes in French newsrooms in 2023, that there was no real Maoists in 1973. The vast majority of those who endorse transgender ideology today are simply following the movement, either for convenience or opportunism.

More flexible than the convinced, they even go further – and know how to leave the ideology-ship at the right time. In twenty years, they will pretend never to have set foot on it: we know the music…

It should be noted, however, that here their minimization strategy failed – for an unexpected reason. On the morning of March 29, Nashville police posted online the video of the police intervention. Very impressive, it was viewed massively – and the public began to ask the questions that Le Monde so dreaded about the “ criminal motivations » of the killer.

We could no longer minimize or doubt anything… what to do? You guessed it: our journalists cried out in unison about “instrumentalization by the right”. The first were those from… Libération. And this time – we will not be surprised – Article was in the headlines.