The LGB Courage Coalition grieves alongside the people of Minneapolis in the wake of the horrific violence at Annunciation Catholic Church and School that has taken the lives of two children and left many more wounded. Our hearts are with the families whose lives have been forever changed by this senseless act.
As an organization led by lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, our mission is to protect young people from the harms of medical, social and legal gender transitions. This tragedy has also drawn attention to the fact that the shooter, a 23-year-old man, had legally identified as transgender.
It is vital that the media report this truthfully: the perpetrator was male and should be referred to as such. Public understanding requires clarity, not obfuscation.
We will not speculate on whether this individual was on a medical transition pathway or if hormone use played any role in this tragedy until more is known. What we do know is that this was a man who held a belief that was not rooted in reality — and that belief was affirmed by those around him.
Gender ideology may not cause violence directly, but it preys on the vulnerable. When fragile individuals are denied evidence-based mental health care and instead encouraged to affirm delusions, instability follows. Vulnerable people — especially youth — deserve care rooted in truth. No one can change sex.
We hear from thousands of parents with trans-identified children who wish their kids had never been placed on this harmful path. Parents see with clarity what institutions and ideologues often deny: that gender ideology does not offer a path to mental health, stability, or alignment with reality. Instead, it fosters confusion, isolates vulnerable youth, and often cuts them off from the very people who love them most.
We believe there must be a way back for these young people — a way back to truth, to wholeness, and to reality and that no further young people should be offered such a path.
Our Coalition works to ensure that minors are safeguarded from irreversible medical interventions, social transition and legal changes, so that every child has the chance to grow up free from ideology and rooted in reality. We advocate for state laws to protect minors from gender ideology, and we need society care similarly for young people who are also targeted by this ideology.
This is not a partisan issue. It is about protecting our society, supporting parents, and resisting harmful medical and legal practices that fail our youth. In moments of profound grief such as this, we are reminded of the urgency of that mission.
The LGB Courage Coalition is a lesbian and gay advocacy group committed to promoting evidence-based medical care, ending the medicalization of gender nonconformity, safeguarding homosexual rights, and building a pathway back for LGB individuals who have undergone medicalization. We believe no child should be subjected to the material harms caused by puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone and “gender-affirming” surgeries.
