Inside the HHS study experts call a political weapon against transgender people

This story was originally published by The 19th. A new study from the Trump administration is sending alarm bells through pro-democracy groups for its potential to fuel a crackdown on Americans who support LGBTQ+ rights — or anyone with left-leaning views. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a study that reaches a dramatic conclusion: Those who support transgender people may be more likely to justify political violence. The study also claims that those who agree with statements like “all political conservatives are fools” or “anyone who opposes gay marriage must be homophobic” may also be more likely to support political violence. Experts have serious doubts about the study’s findings and major ethical objections to its methodology. They say that it builds on previous pseudoscience about trans people and, ultimately, they are concerned about how the Trump administration plans to use it.“I have rarely read a report that has come out of the government that is so clearly politically biased,” said Hanah Stiverson, director of policy at the Chamberlain Network, a pro-democracy nonprofit that fights political polarization. This report is clearly meant for political weaponization, she said.This report is continuing the anti-trans campaign laid out by the Trump administration by moving the conversation beyond youth and sports, said Heron Greenesmith, a policy attorney who has researched anti-trans advocacy networks. It goes beyond past arguments by administration allies linking transgender people to increased capacity to violence, Greenesmith said: “It seeks to explicitly connect support for trans people to violence by actors on the left.”The study, commissioned by HHS, was done by researchers with Rutgers University, as well as the conservative think tank Manhattan Institute and the Network Contagion Research Institute, a nonprofit studying extremism and online rhetoric from QAnon to the Democratic Socialists of America