Mass Shooter in Colorado identifies as non-binary

[fromorbit]

Anderson Aldrich, the evil male who shot up a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs and killed 5 people in a horrific act is according to their lawyers non-binary.

"Anderson Aldrich is non-binary. They use they/them pronouns, and for the purposes of all formal filings, will be addressed as Mx. Aldrich,"

www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/colorado-springs-lgbtq-club-shooting-suspect-identifying-non-binary-court-documents/

We still don't know much about Aldrich's motivations yet. It could be he is a male predator with mental issues who has used non binary pronouns to get closer to victims for a while like Ezra Miller. Alternatively it could be he was alienated from society and being non-binary was part of a mental escape. Perhaps he was angry at his family and society and decided to go on a killing spree a common motivation in in the States where guns are so accessible.

Alternatively we could be looking at a male right wing fanatic who sees gay culture as evil and a joke and is suddenly identifying as non-binary so he can justify killing people and is trying to create an ideological defence.

What we do know about him is he has a history of violence and bomb threats against his family. His family life was chaotic with a porn star father and mother dealing with drug abuse & alcoholism, and he was bullied at school. So this could fit either option turning to the escapism of genderism or turning to the right:
edition.cnn.com/2022/11/22/us/colorado-suspect-background-aldrich-invs/index.html

A lot of this fits the profile of the average mass shooter - an isolated young male, with power fantasies, and love of guns. Why they claim to kill people - religion, incelism, politics, insecurity, desire for fame, being bullied - ultimately doesn't matter that much.

It doesn't matter how men identify themselves or what excuses they use to justify violence. The point is male violence is part of life, especially while young, we can minimise it, but it we have to recognise it as the threat it is as a society and prioritise safety first and that SEX Matters. Decent men know this and will help us do that.

Initially after the killing lots of people online were blaming American and British feminists and right wing Republicans for the killing because they have both are critical of drag queen acts for kids, defending women's sports, and are against medical experimentation on kids. Anderson identifying as non-binary shows absurd that is. Yes Republicans who idolize male gun culture and violence do have responsibility of course. They have responsibility for all the 20-30,000 killings in the USA every year - not just this one. Women who are trying to stop all violence do not - it is absurd to think they do.

Whatever Aldrich motivations his evil act demonstrates how male violence works. People were fine with self id when it was about raping and murdering women - now when a gay club is shot up by someone non-binary will people take safeguarding seriously? Perhaps being non binary means he will be jailed in a women's prison - how messed up will that be. Or perhaps he will claim he was being bullied and transphobia turned him into a killer and try to get a sentence reduction.

This case is probably going to be massive.

How on earth do ‘Republicans’ who ‘idolise gun culture’ bear responsibility for the mayhem in Chicago and other ghettos?

Desperate attempt to blame what I presume are your perceived political opponents for what appears to be pretty straightforward. Troubled bloke ( for that was des identity at the time of the offence, no misgendering here) shoots up venue which xe then reveal is really where x wants to be.

The shooter is either faking it because he knows he'll get an easier pass - but that never happens, right?
Or he's a psychopath within that community because, tragically, all communities have them and we need tough safeguarding irrespective of identity.
However...
My bet is it will be described as internalised transphobia and homophobia for which alleged feminists/right wing stooges are ultimately responsible.

If they say they are non-binary, then they are non-binary - isn't how this works? No one ever lies about how they identify?

Billy Bragg has been blaming feminists for this shooting. I wonder if he'll change his tune now that he knows the killer is trans. Not holding my breath.

Perhaps Shona Robison will be having second thoughts that there is “no evidence that predatory men have ever had to pretend to be anything else to carry out predatory behaviour".

Shockingly, CNN have already misgendered the shooter on multiple occasions. They seem to be having trouble accepting this person's non-binary status.

twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1595282670795509760

I don't care what he is (and I don't think it should be pandered to, either). HE is a monster and HE should be punished to the full extent of the law.

Little OJ has already used this awful incident as an excuse to attack LGB Alliance. It will be interesting to see him wriggling now.

The mind games that are now going on have to be seen to be believed.

This is CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota busily misgendering the shooter and discussing the possibility that they might be making it up! You know, the sort of stuff that normally gets people cancelled on the grounds of being transphobic bigots.

twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1595282670795509760

This murderer is a man. Whatever they identify as. He went out with the intent to kill. The motivations for choosing that club are unknown to anyone. But plenty of grieving people will surmise it was a homophobic and/or transphobic act. Fingers are being pointed in many directions.

So he identifies as non binary. He is transgender. This shouldn't make anyone feel 'better' or more or less angry. An angry man, with access to guns went on a spree and was able to kill and injure a lot of people in a very short space of time.

What you 'identify' as in circumstances of abuse, violence and hate should mean absolutely NOTHING when it comes to the prosecution.

I'm sure this case will cause untold misery to the victims' relatives. No matter what 'view' they choose to take, it won't bring their loved ones back.

What a fucking mess.

There is a Washington Post article, the guy changed his name from Nicholas something. They speculate that this obscured his past and may have made it possible (definitely easier) for him to obtain firearms.

Probably not.Billy needs to get out more.

It may be significant or not that the perpetrator of this awful crime is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, however let's not forget the victims here , and the grief of their families and loved ones. Speculation and comment is not really appropriate at the moment.

Its possible to discuss the issue while showing respect for the victims. The problem is, if we speculate on potential issues caused by bad law, people say we are making stuff up. If we discuss actual issues caused by bad law we are shut down with cries of 'this never happens' or attempts at tone policing.

People aren't speculating. Speculating is 'what if'. People are commenting on stuff that has actually happened. A change of ID facilitated someone with a red flag history buying an assault rifle. If you look into this persons recent history, their behaviour has included several red flags that would have barred them from buying the rifle. That isn't speculation.
And I think its reprehensible to pretend this was unavoidable. People are dead.

Discussing bad law and sloppy thinking about self-ID is not speculation.
A psychopath murdered people. As part of martialling his defence against any hate crime element to his ultimate penalty, he is claiming to be non-binary. With who knows what consequences when it comes to incarceration. He's a scam artist as well as a psychopath.
Which is the fear that many women have been sounding the alarm about for a few years now. And we have been called hateful bigots for doing so.

Young people out to have fun were murdered. Their families have been devastated. It is society's job to punish their killer. Their killer has a right to legal defence in any legal process. And we all have a right to discuss that legal process- which he is trying to twist with his lies.

I wonder if Anderson decided this or if Anderson's lawyers came up with it? If the former, I wonder what the lawyers are thinking, and if the latter, I'd love to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation, especially as Anderson (to me anyway) seems to be powered by hate. Trying to persuade Anderson to declare Anderson is one of the people Anderson hates may have been interesting.

@RumNotRun saw speculation on CNN that it was possibly a tactic to downplay any attempt by the prosecution to argue it was a transphobic hate crime.

TRA Twitter right now: people are who they say they are and you are a bigot if you don't accept them ....... erm, except in this one instance where you are a bigot if you believe this person is who he is says he is! Look, we decide the rules and the logic like we decide our pronouns and if you can't read our minds on any given issue then just accept you're a bigot!

That's an enormous step forward for a progressive American news organisation when it comes to reporting on identity and self-ID.

I think my bottom line is that if your policies enable offenders, you need better policies.

I've seen some speculation about state and federal crimes and the death sentance, meaning that if the person is prosecuted under a hate crime this becomes federal and therefore a death sentance is a possibility.

This is very much IANAL.

I personally don't care provided a man isn't put in a woman's prison following conviction.

The shooting was horrific. No-one should live in fear of anything like this. Violence is abhorrent.

We need to accept that gender or lack of is no indication of risk factor categories for violence like this.
Sex is important when looking at risk.
Measuring risk accurately is important to keep people safe.

If the US won't stop selling assault weapons en masse, maybe they could just stop selling them to male people or anyone where male people might access them? A bit of risk assessment?

I wonder if a few TRAs are waking up to the fact that actually people might self-identify (as women, as trans) for nefarious reasons. Probably not.

Well the republicans in Indiana carry a heavy responsibility for the number of guns in Chicago.