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Hours after an army helicopter and an American Airlines jet collided near Reagan National Airport last week, killing all on board both craft, social media erupted with the claim that the pilot manning the Black Hawk was a transgender service member. But it wasn't true. Jo Ellis, a transgender, Black Hawk pilot with the Virginia National Guard, took to Facebook to post proof of life and rebut the false accusation about her.
"It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some sort of political agenda," Ellis said in the online post. "They don't deserve that. I don't deserve this."
Ellis did not respond to an interview request from NPR.
But her experience is just the latest in a pattern where Republican leaders and high-reach social media accounts scapegoat transgender people in the wake of high-profile tragedies. Similar false claims were made about perpetrators of mass shootings in Texas, Georgia, Wisconsin and Iowa. For extremism experts and some within the trans community, the accusations speak to a highly dangerous political strategy to sow division and expand authoritarian control.
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