FBI Allegedly Wants To Label Trans People as “Nihilistic Violent Extremists”

Concerns are mounting in the transgender community following reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in America has considered labelling trans people as part of a new domestic extremism category called “Nihilistic Violent Extremists” (NVEs).

The push for this classification is said to be coming from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank associated with Project 2025 and known for its hardline opposition to LGBTQ+ rights.

The news follows the recent shooting of Charlie Kirk and misinformation about “trans ideology” involved in the shooting.

Classification a threat to the trans community

Journalist Ken Klippenstein recently revealed, citing two national security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, that internal FBI discussions have taken place on whether trans individuals could fall under this new extremist designation.

The Bureau describes nihilistic extremism as criminal acts carried out to advance political, social, or religious aims rooted in hostility toward society itself and a desire to destabilise it through chaos. Civil rights advocates argue that applying this label to trans people risks legitimising state backed discrimination and further endangering a marginalised population.

One senior intelligence source suggested political motivations were driving the idea. “They are cynically targeting trans people because the shooter’s lover was trans,” the official said, referencing the killing of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk. According to the source, the Trump administration appears convinced the incident points to a broader conspiracy, despite the absence of credible evidence.

Misinformation has already complicated the story with false claims that the bullets used in the shooting bore “transgender engravings” circulated widely before being dismissed by Utah Governor Spencer Cox, who confirmed investigators found no such markings. Still, anti-LGBTQIA+ figures have seized on this false information to further support their agenda.

Further fuelling controversy, the Heritage Foundation has launched a petition calling for the FBI to recognise “Transgender Ideology-Inspired Violent Extremism” (TIVE) as a domestic terror threat.

If adopted, the designation would not only stigmatise transgender people but could also carry consequences for allies and civil society groups supporting the transgender community.

]Experts stress that the supposed threat has no factual basis with data from the Gun Violence Archive showing that of thousands of shootings it has tracked, only a handful involved suspects identified as transgender or LGBTQIA+