A transgender activist group is planning a “Trans Day of Vengeance” rally outside the US Supreme Court this Saturday — just days after mass shooter Audrey Hale slaughtered six people inside a Nashville school.
The Washington DC rally, which is being organized by the Trans Radical Activist Network (TRAN), had already been in the works prior to when Hale — who is transgender — attacked the Covenant School on Monday.
The name of the protest sparked criticism from some in the wake of the massacre.
It prompted Twitter to start deleting tweets that featured a poster promoting the event amid fears it was inciting violence.
Organizers, however, have insisted that’s not the case, saying in a statement on their website: “This protest is about unity, not inciting violence. TRAN does not encourage violence and it is not welcome at this event.”
As of Tuesday, Twitter said it had removed more than 5,000 tweets that featured the event poster.
“We do not support tweets that incite violence irrespective of who posts them. ‘Vengeance’ does not imply peaceful protest,” Ella Irwin, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, tweeted about the crackdown.
“Organizing or support for peaceful protests is ok.”
In a statement, TRAN rejected any connection between the Vengeance rally and the “horrific” shooting that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adults.
“Vengeance means fighting back with vehemence. We are fighting against false narratives, criminalization and eradication of our existence,” the statement said.
“It is also a call to our allies to stand up and fight with us to bring down the forces that try to divide and subjugate us all.”
Among the things TRAN is protesting is the various bans being put in place in some states that prohibit gender reassignment treatments for children.
Criticism of the event intensified after Nashville police, who are still trying to determine a motive, revealed “resentment” may have driven Hale to open fire on the private Christian school.
Cops, who said Hale was being treated for an emotional disorder, uncovered a manifesto detailing elaborate plans of the attack in the shooter’s home.
Hale, a former student at the school, was killed when officers stormed into the building and opened fire.
