TRANS AND DANGEROUS

Words and photos by Riles Kiley - Originally published in issue 01 of Popular Front magazine in 2023

USA—“Transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely¬—the whole preposterous ideology, at every level!”. Those are the words of Michael Knowles, a conservative political commentator and editor of the right-wing Daily Wire media outlet. Knowles said this during a speech at 2023’s CPAC. CPAC is an annual political conference for US conservative activists and elected officials. Attendees are specifically interested in restricting the rights of the trans community.

In the United States, anti-trans rhetoric is at an all-time high. Since 2020, anti-trans bills considering state legislation have surged. By June of 2023, 560 anti-trans bills have sought legislation in 49 states. In America, trans and queer people often find themselves the targets of an on-going culture war.

This began largely online but is spilling over into “real life”. Trans people are four times more likely to be the victim of a violent crime such as rape, assault, and murder. In the US, at least 34 people that identified as transgender were violently murdered in 2022. Two of these deaths occurred during a mass shooting at a queer nightclub in Colorado Springs. In most cases, the victims have been people of colour, under the age of 35, and murdered by a firearm.

Anti-trans violence and sentiment is on the rise in America. But so is trans self-defence. Armed training is becoming increasingly popular amongst trans communities. There are currently dozens of gun clubs across the states exclusively dedicated to training trans and queer people so that they can defend themselves against potential attack. The general sentiment amongst these groups can be summed up in the words of queer gun advocate Finn Smith: “If the world is dangerous, you have to be dangerous back.”

I went to meet with some of these trans people who’re training to ensure they actually can be “dangerous back” if they’re attacked. In Eugene, Oregon, I met with Mia Rose, a 31-year-old trans woman who not only advocates for the arming of trans and queer people, but trains her own unit as a tactical fire team that can provide community defence.

As I pulled into her neighbourhood, her house was easy to spot. A trans pride flag adorned with a Jolly Roger pirate skull is hoisted high in her front yard.

On her Instagram account, Mia refers to herself as a “Tactical Antifascist Trans E-Girl”. Her posts include everything from gun videos and training manuals to thirst traps, memes, and pictures of her cat. Generally, she doesn’t seem to take herself too seriously, sporting bright pink hair while acting cute and silly online. However, when it comes to tactical training and community defence, she’s deadly serious.

“My goal is to move the culture towards revolutionary thought,” said Mia. “That includes firearms training, community building, community defence, medicine. Things like that.

Mia is of Hispanic descent, although she was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon. Her parents immigrated to the United States before she was born. She just turned 30. Her roommates, Jess and V, are also trans gun activists.

Jess poured us both a cup of coffee and placed them gently on the dining room table. V sat quietly, scrolling through her phone. Rain tapped the window as two cats circled and pawed at my bare legs. Mia wore a pink sweater and pyjama pants, a change from the camo I’d seen her wearing in photos on Instagram. In person, Mia seemed quiet and a lot more serious, in contrast to her quirky online personality.

Mia began by explaining to me that she was living in Missouri in 2011 working as an aircraft mechanic. During this time, shooting was just a hobby. Ammo was cheap and she could practice at the range for hours. It wasn’t until 2016, after Mia had moved back to Oregon, that her hobby would lead to something more serious.

At this time, there was an attack on a local Islamic centre by a member of a white supremacist organisation known as American Front. One of the group’s fascist activists threw a brick through the centre’s window with a piece of paper attached to it that said: We’re gonna kill you. This happened during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Leaders of the Islamic centre reached out to the community for support. It was at that time that Mia’s military veteran brother, Charlie, asked her to join him in defending the prayer centre for the remainder of Ramadan. Back then, she was living life as a male.

“I don’t have a history with Islam in my family, but when I heard that American Front [attacked the prayer centre], I got my shotgun and pistol and went there.”

Local leftist and anarchist groups heard about the community defence initiative through word of mouth. Soon Mia and Charlie were joined by armed people from all over.

“What we were doing was anti-fascist,” insists Mia. “We were protecting a prayer centre from the American Front.”

After this, Mia felt there was a need for something more organised. She launched a movement called Community Armed Self Defence (CASD). They taught over a hundred people how to use firearms and qualified around 30 of them for concealed carry permits.

Whilst already engaged in armed community work, it wasn’t till March 15th 2019, when far-right militant Brenton Tarrant livestreamed a mass shooting at a mosque in New Zealand, that Mia really took things more seriously. Armed with two AR-15 style rifles, two 12-gauge shotguns, and two rifles, Tarrant went and killed 51 people in the Christchurch massacre, with 40 more wounded.

“Christchurch was a big eye-opener,” said Mia. “It was streamed online. We realised then that you can’t just stand outside of a building and wait to get shot. We really took our training differently [after that].”

In 2018, she began participating in armed tactical training with local anti-fascists. Several of them are Army Ranger and Marine military veterans. She’s been training with them ever since.

All of this armed community work took place whilst Mia was living as a man. It was 2021 when she began her transition to living as a woman. She changed her name and began hormone replacement therapy. In 2022, she started posting gun content on Instagram. Her content was noticed by both the trans community and the leftist gun community. She found a place where she belonged.

“I think trans people are more drawn to leftist or antifa gun groups because of the historical intolerance of LGBT identities in western gun culture,” she said. “Traditional American gun culture is very conservative ... They aren’t the most welcoming to trans people.”

For many years, “Arm Trans Women” was a popular meme in trans social media circles. It’s more than a meme though. I have personally known many trans women that own guns. I myself, a trans woman, own a 9mm handgun and am pro-firearm. But Mia isn’t just packing handguns in case of attack. She’s gone a step further. She’s training a team of trans and queer antifascists, armed with AR-15s, to run tactical drills as a unit in full paramilitary gear. For them, this isn’t just a hobby. They’re training to take down armed enemy threats.

“I’d like to advocate more for tactics in team-based shooting with the stress and complications of an actual firefight,” she said. “When we see fascists come out in numbers, like Patriot Front, practicing with shields… Well, imagine rifles instead of shields.”

Ironically enough, their training comes straight out of United States military combat training manuals. They include battle drills for fireteam units to contact, counterattack, and retreat from enemy fire.

“Our goal is to be a capable rifle squad, although we don’t have military grade explosives, just stuff civilians can own.”

I asked Mia if she thought her social media presence—that is, a page showing a trans woman training with serious assault rifles in large numbers—might draw negative attention or be taken out of context.

“I’m not concerned with the Tucker Carlsons or the Michael Knowles,” she shrugged. “I’m worried about the FBI coming to my door and saying I’m a terrorist. But they don’t, because they know I’m not. I know because I’ve dealt with them before. I’m doing less than what the Three Percenters are doing, and they’re allowed to exist.”

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