St. George • After a transgender woman was arrested for two killings in Washington City, members of the LGBTQ+ community in Utah are calling for more civility and a ceasefire in the ongoing cultural wars that are dividing the state and nation.
Mia Bailey, a 28-year-old who had her name and gender changed in 5th District Court last year, is accused of murdering her parents in their home and attempting to shoot her brother and his wife, both of whom escaped harm. She is facing 11 felony charges in connection with the June 18 shootings, which have garnered national and international attention.
Ever since the murders and Bailey’s arrest the following day, members of Utah’s LGBTQ+ community and their supporters say transgender Utahns are being targeted by hate-mongers on social media and by Utah politicians trying to score political points.
For example, despite admitting a dearth of evidence or expertise on the topic, Republican state Rep. Kera Birkeland posted on the social media platform now known as X that gender-affirming hormonal therapy might have led to the killings.
“I can only imagine, and I admit, I’m totally speculating, that when taking hormones at the levels and rates in which someone who is transitioning is taking them, it only magnifies these uncharacteristic and irrational behaviors,” Birkeland wrote.
Kristin Francis, a psychiatrist at the University of Utah’s Huntsman Health Institute who has 20 years of experience with hormonal therapy’s effects on people’s mental health, disagreed with Birkeland’s theory, saying the evidence suggests the therapy helps people who need to transition hormonally and boosts their mental health and well-being.
For his part, Sen. Mike Lee accused KSL and other media outlets of woke reporting for referring to Bailey as a woman and thereby, in his opinion, confusing residents and compromising public safety before the suspect was apprehended by police.
In emphasizing the importance of accuracy in his social media post, Utah’s senior senator made several mistakes, saying the killings happened in St. George rather than in Washington City. He also got Bailey’s height wrong and said she was a man. Legal documents show otherwise and police noted the suspect was transgender and “wears wigs and is known to change hairstyles frequently.”
Political posturing, hate-mongering
LGBTQ+ advocates say Birkeland’s and Lee’s statements are not only wrong but dangerous.
“Those comments are not based in any type of science or medicine,” said Liz Pitts, president and CEO of the Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce. “It is political posturing designed to incite people to dehumanize others.”
Members of the community in the St. George area, where drag shows have drawn ongoing controversy and sparked lawsuits, have told The Salt Lake Tribune they are seeing a lot of hostility directed at trans individuals on social media in the wake of the murders.
On X, for example, one person tweeted: “Another [Puberty Blocker] Murderer,” which was accompanied by a meme blaming trans individuals for a slew of murders across the country.
“Color me not shocked,” another chimed in. “More & more ‘daughters’ (aka men transitioning) murdering their parents or family members. Who would think a mentally ill individual steeping themselves in wrong sex hormones would snap? … What could go wrong?”
For Jill Mortensen, a member of Pride of Southern Utah’s board of directors whose eldest child identifies as nonbinary and queer, such statements are heartbreaking and pose a major safety concern. The day after the murders, she said, her child, whose preferred pronoun is “they,” expressed concern over the cruel commentary on social media. “Mom,” she recalled them saying, “I don’t understand why they are so concerned with what’s in [Bailey’s] pants rather than the gun in her hand.”
Mortensen added: “To see people in positions of power, like Representative Kera Birkeland and Senator Mike Lee, using a tragedy to further their harmful narrative is not only wildly irresponsible, it’s just plain gross.”
Shaye Scott, a transgender St. George resident, said hateful remarks from Utah politicians and other prominent leaders essentially give people permission to say similar things to LGBTQ+ and other marginalized minority groups.
“I get lots of hate from all over the world, but it is disappointing to see it in St. George, where I have felt somewhat safe,” she said.
Piling on
LGBTQ+ members and supporters say they are still reeling from the state’s new anti-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion rules and legislation Utah lawmakers enacted that restrict transgender people from using government bathrooms and locker rooms that don’t align with their sex at birth.
“Like the bathroom bill perpetuated by politicians,” Mortensen said, “an event like this gives people permission to pile on a community that is already suffering.”
It feels all the more galling to her, she noted, because she considers such rhetoric and armchair speculation to be noticeably absent when murders and other crimes are perpetrated by heterosexuals or those with ties to the state’s predominant religion.
“But the second a trans person they don’t understand and fear is involved … they are the first ones to draw some sort of connection between hormones and a trans person killing their family,” Mortensen said. “This is a mental health crisis and has nothing to do with a person’s hormones or what their pronouns are.”
Encircle Utah, a southern Utah nonprofit that provides support and mental health services to LGBTQ+ youth and adults, is meeting with community members who say they are being targeted and have been traumatized by the reaction to the double homicide in Washington City.
To help cool the rhetoric, the Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce has released a statement:
“We extend our deepest condolences to all affected by this tragedy. While this incident is deeply distressing, it is crucial to approach it with sensitivity and a commitment to understanding the broader context. Mental health issues, family dynamics, and societal pressures often play significant roles in such tragic events. We urge the public and media to avoid stigmatizing the trans community as a whole based on the actions of one individual.”
To minimize collateral damage from such tragedies, Pitts said, there needs to be more understanding about some of the underlying factors – such as gun violence and the lack of mental health support for trans individuals and their families – that can contribute to tragic outcomes.
“I would encourage [everyone] to tap into their humanity and to not villainize or blame others for the tragic actions of one person,” Pitts said.
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