Congressman Paul Gosar (Q-Ariz), along with other far-right individuals, are being accused of intentionally falsely targetting a Georgia trans women they claimed was the shooter who murdered 21 people at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, NBC News reports.
Gosar and others, particularly users on Reddit, claimed that photos of a 20-year-old trans woman whose first name is Sam–she asked media to withhold her last name for her safety–were actually photos of the Texas shooter. Gosar et al claimed that the treatments to transition were what drove the shooter to murder people, repeating a conspiracy theory that started on 4chan. In a tweet featuring Sam’s photo, Gosar wrote, “It’s a transsexual leftist illegal alien named Salvatore Ramos.”
That is all a lie. The shooter was not trans, nor were the photos posted of the shooter.
At first, Sam has taken it upon herself to try to address the rumors. After she was told by acquaintances on Reddit that her photos were being circulated on 4chan, she attempted to correct the misinformation on various posts, identifying her photos and commenting, “It’s not me, I don’t even live in Texas.”
“This isn’t the first time I was harassed, but it is the first time I’ve been accused of murder,” she said, adding, “I’m more worried about the families of the victims of the attack.”