The Human Rights Campaign rejected the HHS report's claimed connection between its selected measures and political violence, while separately stating that political violence is unacceptable.
Human Rights CampaignLGBTQ+ advocacy organization
The Human Rights Campaign rejected the HHS report's claimed connection between its selected measures and political violence, while separately stating that political violence is unacceptable.
Responding to
HHS reported that, in its analytic sample, stronger agreement with its Clinical Gender Affirmation Scale was associated with higher left-wing-authoritarianism scores and greater stated justification for specified political-violence scenarios.
“spuriously claiming to connect so-called “left-wing authoritarianism” and violence”
Official statement
Where this statement fits
Does the HHS report support linking gender-affirming guidance to authoritarianism and violence justification?
An HHS report released on August 26, 2026 reported correlations in an online survey between agreement with five selected gender-affirmation statements, left-wing-authoritarianism scores, and stated justification for specified political-violence scenarios. HHS says the study did not measure violent behavior or intent and cannot establish causation. Critics dispute whether its measures and framing support broader conclusions about gender-affirming guidance.
Source and context
Official statement
About this source
HRC's official response calls the report's claimed connection spurious, says political violence is unacceptable, and argues against demonizing groups of people. It documents an advocacy organization's institutional position, not independent validation of methodology.
Before the quotation
HRC's official response criticizes the HHS report and includes a statement from its president, Kelley Robinson.
After the quotation
The statement says political violence is unacceptable while objecting to demonizing groups of people. Its methodological and political criticisms are HRC's institutional position.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
HRC explicitly characterizes the report's claimed connection as spurious and rejects its framing of transgender people as a threat.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
More from this case
Read the full caseWright and coauthors defend study with stated limits
“Our measures assessed endorsed justification for violence, not actually engaging in violence.”Read statement
Webberley challenges the report's use in healthcare policy
“This is not how evidence-based research works, and it is not how policy affecting trans people's healthcare should be made.”Read statement
Shanker criticizes the commissioning process for the HHS report
“That's vastly different from how this administration seems to already have the answers for the reports they're publishing before they start. And they're partnering with politically-aligned researchers and think tanks to develop reports that meet a political conclusion rather than a scientific one,”Read statement
Share or embed this statement
The embed keeps its attribution link to The Dispute Index. Credit the image to The Dispute Index and link to the statement page.
Cite this record
- Publisher
- The Dispute Index
- Title
- The Human Rights Campaign rejected the HHS report's claimed connection between its selected measures and political violence, while separately stating that political violence is unacceptable.
- First published
- Last updated
- Permalink
- https://disputeindex.com/events/477-the-human-rights-campaign-rejected-the-hhs-report
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "The Human Rights Campaign rejected the HHS report's claimed connection between its selected measures and political violence, while separately stating that political violence is unacceptable.". First published: 2026-09-11. Last updated: 2026-09-11. https://disputeindex.com/events/477-the-human-rights-campaign-rejected-the-hhs-report