HHS Study Links Transgender Ideology To Justification Of Political Violence

An HHS-commissioned study found an association between support for “radical gender ideology” and a greater willingness to justify political violence. 

The report, released Wednesday by the Department of Health and Human Services, was written by researchers affiliated with Rutgers University, the Manhattan Institute, and the Network Contagion Research Institute.

The preregistered survey asked more than 1,200 U.S. adults to rate their agreement with five transgender-affirming positions and whether six politically motivated acts of violence could be justified.

Those scenarios involved killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, killing President Donald Trump, killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, setting fire to ICE buildings, damaging wealthy people’s property, and attacking police officers.

Strong support for the transgender-affirming positions was positively correlated with greater justification for all six acts. The strongest association involved killing Trump, which had a correlation of 0.35, followed by setting fire to ICE buildings at 0.34 and killing Kirk at 0.31.

The correlations were weaker for damaging wealthy people’s property at 0.28, killing Thompson at 0.27, and attacking police at 0.23. 

The researchers measured left-wing authoritarianism separately, which the report describes as a psychological disposition characterized by aggression toward perceived oppressors, support for censorship and institutional enforcement, and hostility toward conventional institutions.

Left-wing authoritarianism showed a stronger association with justification of political violence, with correlations ranging from 0.47 to 0.54 across the six scenarios.

Both transgender-affirming beliefs and left-wing authoritarianism remained significantly associated with greater justification of all six acts after researchers controlled for respondents’ political identities.

“Together, these findings support the paper’s core claim: gender ideology may function as an ideological accelerant, telling left-wing authoritarian psychology who the enemy is, why the situation is urgent, and — in those already disposed toward force — that violence is legitimate,” the researchers wrote.

Both the researchers and HHS acknowledged that the study found an association but could not establish causation.

The report comes as the political views and transgender associations of several people accused or convicted of targeting prominent conservatives face ongoing scrutiny.

Tyler Robinson, the man charged with Kirk’s September 2025 murder, was living with a male roommate and romantic partner who identified as transgender, according to court documents.

Prosecutors say Robinson sent his roommate messages confessing to the shooting and saying he “had enough of [Kirk’s] hatred.” Robinson’s mother previously told investigators that her son became more political and left-leaning in the year before Kirk’s killing and had grown more supportive of pro-transgender views.

Ryan Michael English, 26, also known as Raleigh Jane English, was sentenced last week to 73 months in prison for bringing a knife and two improvised incendiary devices to the U.S. Capitol as part of a plot to kill then-Treasury secretary nominee Scott Bessent.

English, a man who identifies as a transgender woman, approached a U.S. Capitol Police officer in January 2025 and turned himself in. English later pleaded guilty to two federal weapons charges.

A second study is currently being designed to further investigate the correlation between left-wing ideology, trans-ideology, and political violence.