Virginia Lt. Governor Winsome Sears (R-VA) said it was ridiculous for people to be concerned about “misgendering” the woman who murdered six people at a Christian school in Nashville this week.
Sears made the comments during Friday’s episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher” where she appeared on a panel alongside journalist and author James Kirchick.
“This person murdered six people, I don’t really care who you say you are. You murdered six people, and three of them were children. You don’t get a say. Well, she’s dead now, but you don’t get a say in telling us who you are and what you’re about. You killed six people,” Sears said.
"They are misgendering and dead naming the murderer. They are referring to the murderer by their given name and not their chosen name. … If someone says they're a man they're a man."
"This person murdered 6 people. I don't really care who you say you are." pic.twitter.com/AYqQ1s0wc6
— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) April 1, 2023
Sears was referring to the 28-year-old woman who shot six people at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday. Officials have still not announced a motive for the shooter, who identified as transgender, but they have described the shooting as targeted.
In the days following the shooting, media outlets like The New York Times and USA Today scrambled after claiming that police had “misidentified” the gender of the shooter.
“There was confusion later on Monday about the gender identity of the assailant in the Nashville shooting,” the Times said. “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.”
Sears made her comments after Kirchick said that some in the media had not followed their own rules, but continued to identify the shooter as female despite the self-identification as a male.
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“If you noticed, they are misgendering and deadnaming the murderer, right. They are referring to the murderer by their given name, not their chosen name, and referring to her as a woman, as opposed to what her identity apparently was as a man, which is not the way the media usually does these things,” he said. “They are usually very particular about the subjective sense of gender identity and respecting that. If someone says they’re a man then they’re a man, but in this case they’re not doing that.”
Sears, who won an upset electoral victory in Virginia alongside Governor Glenn Youngkin, later said that parents deserved more say over the education of their children.
“I’m a parent, I’m a parent all day. I get to decide what happens in my child’s life, not you, not the government, not anybody. I don’t co-parent. I had this child, I’m responsible for this child. If anything happens to little Johnny, you’re calling me. If I don’t want my child given lap dances at school by a drag queen, I don’t want it done.”