The tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on August 27, 2025, left two children dead and eighteen others wounded during a school Mass. The suspected shooter, 23-year-old Robin Westman, died by suicide at the scene. While investigators continue to examine Westman’s motives, including possible elements of domestic terrorism, one detail seized upon by far-right commentators was that Westman had previously identified as transgender.
Among the loudest voices was Republican influencer Joey Mannarino, who immediately turned the tragedy into an opportunity to attack the entire transgender community. Rather than mourning the victims or supporting the families devastated by the violence, Mannarino issued a barrage of inflammatory statements that scapegoated transgender people and called for policies more in line with authoritarian regimes than democratic values.
Who Is Joey Mannarino?
Joey Mannarino, born in Philadelphia in 1993, is a conservative political strategist and commentator who hosts The Joey Mannarino Show. He has built a sizable online following through his collaborations with right-wing movements in the United States and Europe, promoting a nationalist, media-driven agenda. His social media profile prominently features the slogan “REMIGRATION NOW!”, a phrase often tied to xenophobic and exclusionary political movements.
According to reporting from Out in STL, Mannarino’s reach is not limited to social media followers. He has been openly supported and engaged by multiple Republican political figures, making his rhetoric more dangerous than fringe chatter.
Exploiting Tragedy for Hate
In response to the Minneapolis shooting, Mannarino called for all transgender people in the United States to be treated as a matter of “national security.” He demanded that the Department of Health and Human Services violate HIPAA protections by turning over the personal medical information of transgender individuals to law enforcement. In his words, trans people should be “locked away and studied.”
The escalation did not stop there. Over the course of roughly a dozen posts, Mannarino argued that the United States does not need gun control but instead “transgender control.” He stated he would be “fine with taking away the Second Amendment rights for anyone who is transgender,” labeled transgender identity as a “dangerous mental illness” and a “sickness,” and suggested that all trans people should be classified as mentally ill and confined to inpatient facilities. He went so far as to demand that doctors who prescribe puberty blockers or provide transition-related care lose their licenses or even face prison time.
This rhetoric is not new for Mannarino. In previous posts, he declared that “your right to be a transgender is never more important than a child’s right to be safe at school,” a statement that positions transgender existence as inherently threatening and secondary to the rights of others.
Facts vs Fear
There is no evidence to support Mannarino’s sweeping claims. On the contrary, the overwhelming majority of mass shooters in the United States are cisgender men. Data from The Violence Project indicates that approximately 98 percent of school shooters are cisgender males. Transgender individuals, who make up a tiny fraction of the population, are statistically far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators.
Despite this reality, Mannarino’s words attempt to manufacture a false narrative that frames transgender people as a public danger. This type of rhetoric is not just misleading, it is actively harmful. It feeds a climate of fear, stigmatization, and violence against an already marginalized community.
Public Pushback
Community leaders in Minneapolis and beyond condemned attempts to use the shooting as a platform for hate. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said, “Those using this horrific act as an opportunity to villainize our trans community have lost their sense of common humanity.”
Across LGBTQ+ spaces online, activists and community members voiced outrage at Mannarino’s words. On Reddit, one trans person noted, “He also called for us to be interned. Sounds suspiciously like a concentration camp.” Another cautioned, “It is not silly. Believe them when they tell you who they are and what they want to do. They are dead serious.”
These responses highlight a crucial truth: members of marginalized communities recognize the historical echoes in calls for detention, forced study, and removal of civil rights. These are not idle comments. They resemble tactics of regimes that sought to dehumanize entire populations.
Why It Matters
Mannarino’s words are not just offensive. They are dangerous. When influential figures call for the detainment, surveillance, and civil rights removal of an entire community, they normalize ideas that put real people at risk.
Transgender people already face heightened threats. Global data from 2023 recorded at least 375 murders of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, with many more going unreported. In the United States, surveys show that more than half of trans and nonbinary youth have seriously considered suicide in the past year, with one in five attempting it.
Against this backdrop, rhetoric like Mannarino’s is more than speech. It is fuel for discrimination, violence, and policy attacks that make daily life harder and more dangerous for transgender people.
The Bottom Line
This is not a story about political disagreement. It is about calling out a dangerous escalation in anti-trans rhetoric that seeks to erase a community rather than engage in dialogue. Joey Mannarino’s response to the Minneapolis shooting was not critique. It was a demand for systemic oppression and the stripping away of human rights.
Trans lives are not threats, experiments, or bargaining chips. We are human, and our dignity is not up for debate.
