Anti-LGBTQ groups have increased the use of false rhetoric depicting trans people as dangerous sexual predators who threaten national security. They’ve also hinted that violence is an appropriate response to encountering trans people in public. This amounts to stochastic terrorism: public demonization of a group through mass media that incites unpredictable violence.

When outlets publish or give uncritical airtime to extreme anti-LGBTQ individuals and groups, they are contributing to the promotion of violence, whether or not it was their intent. Hate crimes against trans people are rising in both the United States and the U.K., and stochastic terrorism is likely part of the problem. Brynn Tannehill explains more.