Genspect Joins In On Calls to Label Trans People as Extremists
Leading Off: Genspect calls to pathologize transgender identities, trans Americans seek asylum abroad, and the Department of Education withholds funds from schools in blue cities. Our top stories starting out the week in trans news.
by Assigned Media
This Saturday, September 27, SPLC-designated hate group Genspect called for all transgender people to be labeled with a psychiatric term designed for perpetrators of mass violence.
A press release titled “Genspect Calls for Re-Psychopathologization of Transgender Identification” briefly laid out the group’s call for the psychiatric community to designate trans identity as a form of an extreme overvalued belief. In psychiatry, the concept of an extreme overvalued belief has previously been used to differentiate the fringe beliefs of certain violent extremists that motivate acts of mass violence from psychiatric delusions.
In psychiatry, a delusion is a fixed false belief held by a patient that does not change in the face of contradictory evidence. Delusions are a common symptom found in several psychiatric diagnoses, particularly schizophrenia. Unlike a delusion, an extreme overvalued belief might seem bizarre to the psychiatrist, but is a commonly held belief in the patient’s own religion, culture, or subculture. For example, the far-right mass murderer Anders Breivik held extreme beliefs about Muslim immigration that motivated him to murder 77 people, but his beliefs were shared by many in the right-wing ideological subculture he was part of.
The sudden declaration that all trans people should be pathologized under a novel framework typically reserved for violent criminals would seem to be extreme even for Genspect. The FAQ section of their website puts forward an entirely different understanding of trans identity as stemming from distress over an individual’s gender that can have multiple causes.
This departure by Genspect comes soon after the Trump Administration reportedly began exploring whether it might be possible to re-categorize trans people as supporters of terrorism, an effort being pushed by the far-right Heritage Foundation.
More and more Americans are seeking asylum abroad as threats of persecution escalate. According to Immigration and Refugee Board in Canada, last year there were 204 asylum claims from the U.S. to Canada, the highest number since 2019; by just June of 2025 there were 245.
According to Reuters, a major contributor to the increasing claims have been trans Americans, citing Trump and the Supreme Court’s efforts to attack and roll back trans rights across the country.
The Netherlands have also seen a marked increase of trans and queer Americans seeking asylum. Since Trump’s second inauguration, more than 20 trans Americans have flown to the Netherlands for refuge.
In both Canada and the Netherlands the U.S. is regarded as a “safe” country, and the implications of officially changing that status could have diplomatic implications, so it is unclear how far these claims will go in the long run. However, the IRB in Canada has turned its attention to the treatment of trans Americans by the U. S. government, and refugee lawyers have begun seriously discussing whether the threshold of “unsafe” is being met.
Continuing its crusade against trans acceptance in schools the Trump administration has widened its attacks on school districts with policies to support trans students. The administration had previously threatened to withhold funding from schools in northern Virginia. Now, those financial threats have expanded to school districts in Chicago and New York City.
On September 16th the Department of Education sent letters to Chicago, New York, and Fairfax county school districts, demanding they no longer allow trans people in restrooms or sports teams matching their gender, saying they were in violation of Title IX. Additionally, Chicago was told they had to end a program offering academic resources to Black students.
Each district was given until September 23rd to come into compliance; all refused.
Assigned Media is one hundred percent supported by our readers. Become a member today and get a members-only essay by founder Evan Urquhart every Thursday.