'Trans Kids' Need Healing, Not Affirmation

The horrific shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on August 27, 2025, has once again exposed the dangerous fallout of progressive gender ideology. Robin Westman, a 23-year-old “trans woman” born Robert Paul Westman, opened fire through the stained-glass windows of the church during a school Mass, killing two young children, an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old. Seventeen others were injured, including 14 children as young as 6 and three elderly parishioners. 

Westman, who legally changed his name in 2019 after identifying as female, left behind a manifesto expressing exhaustion with his transgender identity, confessing he was “tired of being trans” and regretted “brain-washing” himself into it. Videos posted by Westman showed admiration for past mass shooters. Anti-Trump messages were scrawled on his gun magazines, blending political rage with personal turmoil. This is a stark indictment of how affirming transgenderism as a “normal” identity can exacerbate untreated mental illness, pushing vulnerable individuals toward violence.

Experts have long warned that transgenderism (i.e., gender dysphoria) signals deeper psychological distress, and Westman's case fits a disturbing pattern of mass violence perpetrated by transgender people. Notable examples include Audrey Hale, a transgender man who killed six at Nashville's Covenant School in 2023; Dylan Butler, a “genderfluid” teen who murdered two at Perry High School in Iowa in 2024; Maya McKinney, a transgender youth involved in the 2019 STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting in Colorado; and Snochia Moseley, a transgender woman who killed three in a 2018 workplace rampage in Aberdeen, Maryland. These cases highlight a correlation that pro-trans activists dismisses as bigotry, but we can't avoid the truth any longer: transgenderism's link to untreated mental health issues can fuel desperation and aggression.

Data overwhelmingly connects transgenderism to elevated rates of mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, and suicidality. According to the Trevor Project's 2024 survey, 39% of young people who identify as “LGBTQ+” seriously considered suicide in the past year, rising to 46% among those who identify as transgender and nonbinary. A 2023 survey found 41% considered suicide, with transgender youth facing compounded risks. Transgender individuals are at far greater risk for depression (50.6% vs. 20.6% in non-trans peers) and suicide (82% have considered it, and 40% have tried). A JAMA Network Open study confirmed higher 12-month risks for mental disorders, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation among transgender people compared to cisgender counterparts. 

These aren't just “stigma” effects. They point to intrinsic dysphoria that affirmation often fails to resolve.

Transgenderism should be seen as a red flag for psychiatric intervention, not societal “affirmation.” Any child identifying as the opposite gender needs real mental health support—therapy to unpack underlying trauma, not hormones or surgeries that irreversibly alter their bodies. Previous generations of psychologists understood this. In the DSM-III (1980), it was classified as Gender Identity Disorder, a mental illness rooted in distress over one's biological sex. The shift to "Gender Dysphoria" in DSM-5 (2013) de-emphasized it as a disorder to reduce stigma, but critics argue this politicized change ignores the core pathology, treating symptoms as identity rather than illness. Affirmation pushes kids deeper into alienation, severing ties with peers, parents, and reality.

Westman's story exemplifies this failure. As the child of a church employee, he grew up in a faith community that should have offered grounding, yet his transgender journey led to catastrophe. Reports suggest his mother was supportive—allowing or encouraging the name change at 17—and yet this didn’t prevent his descent into violence. Instead, his manifesto reveals regret over self-induced delusion, underscoring how affirmation can entrench confusion rather than heal it. It didn't alleviate but, in fact, worsened his isolation.

Unfortunately the number of such incidents will rise as transgender identification surges among youth, fueled by social media and schools promoting fluid identities. Social misfits—awkward teens navigating puberty—are encouraged to blame their struggles on gender or sexual “identity,” rather than addressing root causes like bullying, family issues, neurodivergence, or mental illness. 

Pro-trans advocates respond to such tragedies by calling for more “care” (affirmation, access to blockers, reassignment surgery, etc.) claiming violence stems from rejection. But this only drives individuals deeper into mental illness, reinforcing a false self that clashes with biology and society. By prioritizing ideology over therapy, we risk more alienated souls lashing out. True compassion means treating transgenderism as the cry for help that it is. 

Read also