In light of the recent tragedy in Minneapolis, it is imperative that we reexamine one of the most foundational tenets of the transgender beliefs: "Would you rather have a dead son or a live daughter?" and "gender affirming care is life saving." These are two of the most common sayings supporting the assumption that affirmative care is a positive good. It isn't.
The aftermath of the school shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minnesota shows us even more clearly that this assumption is wildly incorrect.
The shooter suspect, Robert "Robin" Westman had his gender identity legally changed from male to female in 2020 at age 17, with parental approval. This was supposed to help his distress. Yet here we are five years later, reeling after he murdered children in a school and then shot himself.
Clearly "gender affirming care" didn't save Westman's life. It doesn't save anyone's life.
Westman was obviously emotionally disturbed. He put out an 11-minute video that shows how pre-meditated his act of violence on August 27, 2025. The video is now deleted, but can be seen on Andy Ngo's Substack.
Westman showcased several guns and bullets with neatly written radical phrases on them such as "kill Donald Trump," "six million wasn't enough," "Israel must fall" and "f*ck this world." The weapons were meticulously arranged on a bed while he carefully and proudly filmed his handiwork.
At one point, he picked up a handgun and said, "This one is for me in case I need it." He apologized to his family for his plan, saying, "but that's it, that's the only people who I'm sorry to, f*ck those kids."
"I regret everything," he continued to say. "I didn't ask for life, you didn't ask for death…"
"I got my headphones so I can hear them scream," he said.
In addition, throughout his writing, he expressed hopelessness and nihilism. This man was clearly unstable, and seems sociopathic. We don't know when this condition happened, but there is a strong possibility that a competent and detailed therapeutic intervention during his "transition" may have caught underlying issues. Unfortunately, ideology trumped common sense.
This is exactly what happened to Prisha Mosley, a woman who was affirmed as a man by doctors and therapists and is now in an active malpractice lawsuit because she has endured serious harm both physically and psychologically. She has been public about her pre-existing mental health struggles including trauma, borderline personality disorder, and a serious eating disorder.
Mosley wrote on X, "As a detransitioner, I know well how hard and hopeless it can feel to realize that your entire life and identity and all of your beliefs are a lie. It's very painful and jarring to realize that everyone affirming you has been lying to you and that you're living a lie, at great cost."
Shooter Robert "Robin" Westman expressed transition regret in his manifesto. He wrote: "I am sick of my hair, I want to chop it off! I only keep it because it is pretty much my last charade of being trans. I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain washed myself. I can't cut my hair off now as it would be an embarrassing defeat, and it might be a concerning change of character that could get me reported."
It is difficult to understand the motives of a person as disturbed and radicalized as Westman was. However, believing he made this mistake, and feeling the betrayal of people who affirmed this mistake certainly isn't good for anyone's mental stability.
The saying "death before detransition" is common within the trans community. Westman chose death.
We have been told repeatedly that so-called "affirmative care" saves lives. Anyone who questions this narrative gets cancelled, ostracized, and called names. Robert "Robin" Westman is another case of a deeply disturbed man who was "affirmed," yet still killed himself and took out his anger and rage on innocent children.
His psychiatric conditions were not only neglected, they were reinforced. When will the general population wake up and realize that they are being lied to? There is nothing lifesaving about gender affirming care, in fact, it is dangerous.
Pamela Garfield-Jaeger is a licensed therapist with 25 years of clinical experience. She is the author of "A Practical Response to Gender Distress" and a children's book about self-acceptance, "Froggy Girl," www.froggygirlbookcom, www.thetruthfultherapist.org.
