On the evening of September 18, 2025, a wave of controversy swept through U.S. political circles as independent journalist Ken Klippenstein broke news that the FBI was developing new tools to identify transgender suspects, classifying them as "nihilistic violent extremists." Within hours, the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project—a key architect behind the influential Project 2025—released a four-page memo urging the bureau to go even further: to formally designate all transgender activism as a new category of domestic terror threat, dubbed "Trans Ideology-Inspired Violent Extremism" (TIVE).
The proposal, which quickly gained traction in conservative media and among some lawmakers, calls for the FBI to "detect, disrupt, and dismantle TIVE cells," echoing language typically reserved for organized terror groups. According to The Independent, the Heritage Foundation and its Oversight Project launched a public petition on Thursday, September 19, 2025, insisting that the government use its full law enforcement powers to "crush this threat and keep Americans safe." The groups cited the recent assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk as the "latest example" of what they claim is a growing trend of violence "brainwashed by trans ideology."
Yet, the evidence supporting such a trend is, at best, thin. The Gun Violence Archive reports that only about 0.1 percent of mass shootings over the past decade were carried out by transgender individuals. A study from The Violence Prevention Project at Hamline University backs up this finding, while a PolitiFact analysis highlights that "trans people are more likely to be victims of violence than their cisgender peers." Despite these facts, the Heritage Foundation’s campaign presses on, reflecting a broader effort within some conservative circles to paint America’s estimated 2.8 million transgender people as uniquely prone to violence and instability.
The memo’s definition of TIVE is sweeping. As detailed by The Oversight Project, it encompasses anyone who believes violence is justified against opponents of "transgender ideology"—but also those who argue that stripping away transgender rights constitutes violence or an existential threat to transgender people. This second prong is particularly broad: it could, in effect, label nearly every transgender rights activist or organization as extremist simply for pointing out the tangible harm that comes from losing rights.
The Oversight Project’s president, Mike Howell, made the group’s position clear: "To understand transgender ideology is to understand that at its core, it's wrapped in violence—at its very essence." The memo goes further, listing "typical characteristics" of supposed extremism, including the presence of a trans flag with the words "protect their right to exist." It even includes widely used terms such as "cisgender," "deadnaming," and "misgendering," as well as "Gillick Competence," a legal concept regarding minors' consent to medical treatment.
If the FBI were to adopt TIVE as a formal category of domestic terrorism, the memo argues, the agency could bring to bear "immense legal, intelligence, and law enforcement tools." This would include gathering intelligence on individuals who share ideological commonalities, network mapping, undercover operations, and data analysis against those deemed suspect. In plain terms, it would open the door to treating transgender rights leaders and organizations as security threats—placing them under surveillance and violating their privacy for the act of advocating for their own existence.
Such tactics have a dark history in the United States. As noted by The Intercept, the FBI’s infamous COINTELPRO program from 1956 to 1971 targeted civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, as well as Vietnam War protestors and the gay rights movement of the ’60s and ’70s. Following 9/11, Muslim communities were subjected to widespread surveillance and infiltration. Critics fear that, under the Heritage Foundation’s proposal, these same techniques could be repurposed against transgender rights advocates.
Despite the memo’s insistence that not all transgender individuals would be labeled terrorists—"individuals are free to identify as transgender, or support... transgenderism in a non-violent way"—the qualifiers are so elastic that even basic acts of advocacy could be construed as incitement. The memo’s definition of TIVE includes the belief that anti-trans rhetoric or policies "constitute a form of violence" or threaten trans people’s lives by contributing to the community’s high suicide rate. If adopted, this would sweep up a wide range of rhetoric common among progressive activists and writers.
The Heritage Foundation’s influence inside the Trump administration is significant. According to The Independent, dozens of Project 2025 proposals have already been implemented or are moving through the federal system as of September 2025. The Oversight Project, formerly part of the Heritage Foundation, was spun off earlier this year but remains closely tied to the think tank. Its president, Mike Howell, continues as a visiting fellow at Heritage, underscoring the interconnectedness of these advocacy efforts.
The campaign’s timing is no accident. In the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, speculation about the shooter’s motives ran rampant. Early reports and court documents suggest that the alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, had recently shifted from a pro-Trump upbringing to more left-wing views, telling his romantic partner that he’d "had enough of [Kirk’s] hatred." That partner, reportedly transgender, has cooperated fully with police. Yet, as The Independent notes, Robinson has made no explicit statement to investigators about his beliefs or motives, and the investigation remains in its early stages.
The Human Rights Campaign responded forcefully to attempts to tie the shooting to transgender issues. "This reporting was reckless and irresponsible, and it led to a wave of threats against the trans community from right-wing influencers—and a resulting wave of terror for a community that is already living in fear," the organization said in a press release. California State Senator Scott Wiener added, "The obsession with tying trans people to shootings is vile & dangerous." He criticized efforts to link the shooter to transgender identity, calling it "McCarthyism & truly disgusting."
Meanwhile, FBI deputy director Dan Bongino has said he is probing whether Robinson was "aided and abetted" by an "extended network." Separately, Klippenstein’s reporting that the FBI is planning to focus more on transgender suspects has not yet been independently verified by The Independent, and the Department of Justice has been asked for comment.
There are chilling parallels to Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ civil society. In 2016, the Kremlin began labeling NGOs that threatened "public order" as extremist, a designation later expanded to cover LGBTQ+ organizations outright. The Heritage Foundation’s proposal is seen by some as mirroring this approach—using anti-terrorism tools to target a marginalized community for its advocacy.
It’s important to stress that, as of this writing, the FBI has not adopted the TIVE designation. The Heritage Foundation and Oversight Project are in the advocacy phase, circulating petitions and urging allies in government to push the proposal forward. But with the Heritage Foundation’s deep influence in the current administration, the threat is far from theoretical. Even if the policy stops short of labeling every transgender person a terrorist, it creates the machinery for sweeping crackdowns, surveillance, and disruption—tools that echo some of the darkest chapters of American history.
As the debate rages, the nation stands at a crossroads, grappling with the balance between security and civil liberties, and the dangers of letting fear-driven narratives shape policy.
