When being trans becomes the only newsworthy aspect of a crime

7 min readMay 17, 2023

When I first started blogging about crime, I would write about anything related to school shootings. I would write about every shooting, plot, and threat I could find in the news. After a while, I stopped writing about school shooting threats because they became so common. If I tried that today, I would be years behind in stories instead of just months. Later on, arrests for school shooting plots became almost just as common that I had to draw the line somewhere with them. My rule of thumb became I would only write about a school shooting plot if the suspect was in possession of a firearm or explosive.

Under this rule, I would not have normally written about the school shooting plot we’re going to discuss today. The suspect had no gun in their possession, and in my opinion, I don’t think the plot would have succeeded anyway. However, this story made national news, and I think it was for one reason. Because the suspect is trans.

On March 31st, the Elbert County (Colorado) Sheriff’s Office was called to a home in the unincorporated town of Elbert. Elbert is roughly 40 miles northeast of Colorado Springs. A family member in the home claimed their sibling had threatened to shoot up a school. When deputies arrived, they found the suspect, 19-year-old Lily Whitworth, in a trash-piled home. Lily’s room was also piled with trash, and the walls had several holes in them that appeared to have been made by a fist. The room was also littered with empty bottles of alcohol. After deputies woke Whitworth, she allegedly replied with, “I’m a little drunk right now.”

Whitworth was very forthcoming with police, possibly due to her intoxication. She told them how far along she was in the plan, stating she was about one-third away. She told them about all the written plans and writings she had about the plot. No guns were found on the premises, and by the sounds of things, it doesn’t seem like she could have afforded one. She did have a list of guns and plans on how to 3D print them, but again, I would imagine accomplishing that goal would have been easier said than done.

What police did find was Whitworth’s manifesto, along with a copy of the OG manifesto, The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrick Engels. More on that later.

Whitworth had only attended school up to 7th grade. After that, she was said to have been ‘homeschooled’. I use the sarcasm quotes because it seems like Whitworth was a victim of the dark side of homeschooling, where the child is either abused or neglected. I haven’t read anything to indicate that, but it’s just a hunch. Again, I digress.

The last school Whitworth attended was Timberview Middle School in Colorado Springs. She confirmed to police Timberview was going to be her main target.

Whitworth told deputies that she had suicidal thoughts, but never received any help.

When she was asked about how much she knew about school shootings, she replied with, “too much”.

In my opinion, Whitworth is, in fact, a columbiner. Typically, a columbiner is someone who has an unhealthy obsession with the Columbine shooters, and often idolizes them. However, Whitworth is kind of a reverse-columbiner. What I mean by that is Whitworth seemed to know a lot about Columbine, but in her manifesto, she referred to the shooters as ‘losers’. While I agree with her conclusion, I’m not in agreement with how I think she got there. There’s an opinion among some would-be school shooters that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold failed at Columbine. Harris and Klebold had set two kerosene tanks to explode, which were supposed to inflict even more fatalities. However, the tanks failed to detonate, which some see as their plan being a failure.

Whitworth has been charged with two counts of first-degree criminal attempt to commit murder, criminal mischief, menacing, and interference with staff, faculty, or students of educational institutions. The two counts of attempted murder are, of course, felonies.

Whitworth had been held on a $75,000 bond, but it was increased to $750,000 after she told staff at the county jail she would attempt to commit the shooting again if she was released on bond.

Now it may seem I’m sympathizing with Whitworth, and to a degree I am. When you combine poverty, neglect, mental health issues, and a drinking problem together, you shouldn’t be surprised this is what happens. But she made her bed, and now she has to lie in it.

But here’s my point, if you couldn’t already guess what it was. This story would never have made news outside the greater Denver area if it wasn’t for the fact that Lily Whitworth was transitioning from male to female. Granted, this story took place 4 days after The Covenant School shooting, the fact that both suspects were trans is a coincidence. Whitworth had been in the planning stages for months.

But the right needs their bogeyman. They need to have their followers be afraid of some group of people. Let’s go down the historic list in no particular order, Blacks, Muslims, Asians, Jews, Gays, Communists, Immigrants from the Irish to the Mexicans, and unfortunately, it’s now the Trans Community’s turn in the barrel.

Check out some of the headlines I found from right-wing media.

From something called The Western Journal…

While they didn’t mention it in their article, I’m sure the Western Journal was referring to Whitworth being the copycat of Audrey Hale. Oh, and the Trump-hating thing? Whitworth referred to the orange shitgibbon as a ‘con-man’ in her manifesto.

Here’s the NY Posts’s headline…

Oh no, the suspect owned a book. You know how the right feels about them books. Our kids don’t need no learnin’.

And I’ve saved the worst for last.

Here’s the headline from something called Natural News, which claims they’re defending health, life, and liberty.

That headline’s something, alright. I guess the health, life, and liberty they’re defending only belongs to straight white Christian nationalists. But we’re not done with Natural News just yet. Unlike The Western Journal, Natural News didn’t hold back on how they really feel. Here’s a sampling…

Nineteen-year-old William Whitworth, a biological male who now identifies as “Lilly,” is the latest deranged transgender to plot the murder of children at his alma mater.
The confused young man’s story made headlines after ECSO dispatchers responded to a disturbance in incorporated Elbert County on March 31, 2023.
All such mentions of “sister” are referring to Whitworth, who self-identifies as a “female” due to LGBT trans programming.
Why are so many transgenders all of a sudden plotting school shootings?

Right-wing media, thy name is fearmongering. I’m sure there are more headlines like this, but this is all I could stomach.

Not only did all three articles deadname Whitworth, but they all had to bring up The Communist Manifesto and her disdain of The Tangerine Diaper Man.

It’s not just the right-wing media, though. Even mainstream outlets like CBS News deadnamed Whitworth. Do you know who didn’t? The Denver Post. In their article, which is local news to them, not once did they mention Whitworth was transitioning nor did they list her deadname. These days, that’s worth a goddamn Pulitzer.

Here’s what the right can’t understand. The Covenant School shooting had nothing to do with the shooter being trans. Where was this national outrage against trans people after the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting? Nowhere, because a trans shooter hadn’t attacked a Christian school yet. And like both of those, this incident has absolutely nothing to do with the suspect being trans.

One of the problems with modern-day Republicans is they can’t see anything past their front yard. They’re completely incapable of understanding there are people who are different than them. They fear those who are different. And as the line goes, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering. And they won’t be happy until everyone but them is suffering.

(Sources)

Please Support Us on Patreon

When being trans becomes the only newsworthy aspect of a crime

Written by Trench Reynolds

No responses yet