1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

I am writing to you as a constituent and as a transgender American to demand the full and public denunciation of conservative commentator Joey Mannarino’s recent statements on X suggesting that transgender people should be “locked up and studied” in the wake of the Annunciation mass shooting. These words are not policy proposals. They are dehumanizing attacks that incite hatred and violence against an already vulnerable community. No member of any minority group should be treated as a problem to be “studied” or caged. Such rhetoric is not only morally abhorrent, it is also historically dangerous. Dehumanizing language has always been the first step toward justifying discrimination, persecution, and violence. To hear such ideas circulated in public discourse today should alarm every member of Congress who cares about freedom, safety, and human dignity. Transgender people deserve to live in safety and peace, with the same rights and protections guaranteed to every American. We are not a disease, we are not a threat, and we are not an experiment. We are human beings who deserve respect and equality under the law. I urge you to use your platform to denounce Mannarino’s statements clearly and without hesitation. Silence or neutrality in the face of this rhetoric is complicity. Please affirm publicly that there is no place in our democracy for calls to cage, study, or erase transgender people. I am asking you to stand on the side of dignity and justice. Lives are at stake, and words like these only fuel violence and division. Please act with the courage and moral clarity this moment demands.