Marni Panas, a trans activist based in Edmonton, says her heart broke when she saw news of Tuesday's mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., that left nine people dead, including the suspect, and 27 injured.
Later, when rumours started to percolate that the suspect in the shooting was a transgender woman, Panas watched what she says has become a predictable pattern emerge online. Within minutes, she says some people began to leverage the tragedy to "advance hate" against the trans community.
"This will just get uglier now for us and for our community as a whole, when our attention should be on the care of these victims and to support communities," she said.
B.C. RCMP have identified the suspect as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar. RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said at a news conference early Wednesday afternoon that Van Rootselaar was assigned male at birth and began transitioning to female about six years ago, and identified publicly as female.
But hours before police had confirmed the identity of the suspect, anger and false claims were already being directed at the trans community online. Some pundits, politicians and right-wing news outlets began posting about what they called an epidemic of violence by trans people. But experts say there's no evidence to support such a trend and trans advocates worry that these claims will do nothing but harm an already marginalized community.
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