Following the revelation that the Nashville Christian school shooter was transgender, the New York Times has issued a tweet clarifying the gender identity of shooter Audrey Hale as families of the six who were killed begin to pick up the pieces.
"There was confusion later on Monday about the gender identity of the assailant in the Nashville shooting. Officials had used 'she' and 'her' to refer to the suspect, who, according to a social media post and a LinkedIn profile, appeared to identify as a man in recent months," the tweet read.
The now-deleted LinkedIn of Hale listed He/Him pronouns, and states that Hale was most recently working as a part-time illustrator and Shipt grocery delivery person.
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The tweet came in response to a piece published by the outlet, outlining how a vast majority of mass shooters have been male.
Citing data compiled by the Violece Project, looking at 172 mass shootings since 1966, the New York Times reported, "only four assailants were women or girls. In two cases, women acted alongside a man." They noted, rightfully, that Hale was female, and that this is particularly a rare occurence.
"None of the shootings at K-12 schools in the nonprofit’s database involved a female shooter," the outlet added.
Despite the rarity of this circumstance, the Times felt the need to backtrack and claim that the female shooter was male, simply because she said she was.
The New York Times noted: "There was confusion about the gender identity of the assailant in Nashville. Kristin Mumford, a police spokeswoman, said the suspect was born female but listed male pronouns on a LinkedIn profile, which suggested that the suspect was a transgender man. That profile had been active in recent months, reacting to two posts about other people’s career updates."
The tweet comes as the families of the three 9-year-old children and three staff members, including the head of the school, who were killed by this woman who apparently believed she was male now have to make funeral arrangements for their deceased loved ones, and likely are not worried about the gender identity of the assailant who gunned down their family members.
In response to the New York Times’ tweet, Twitter users questioned why the gender identity of the shooter would be a priority over covering the six lives that were lost.
"Incredible. The New York Times apologizes for misgendering the Nashville mass shooter who murdered three kids and three adults because it disrespects the murderer’s memory and identity. Truly a cult. Woke mind virus in full swing," wrote Ian Miles Cheong.
"Nyt trying to find a way to make the transgender murderer a victim like," wrote Independent Women’s Forum senior policy analyst Inez Stepman.
"Apparently, respecting a child killer's preferred gender pronouns is more important than the fact 3 innocent children were murdered while at school," wrote BizBritain CEO Matt Gubba.
"Utter disrespect to the families of the victims. No empathy for others’ losses. Keeping up the appearance of woke vs basic human decency," another Twitter user added.
USA Today issued a similar tweet on Monday, accusing officials of "misgendering" the shooter.
"Police on Monday afternoon said that the shooter was a transgender man. Officials had initially misgendered the gender of the shooter."
