On Feb. 11 Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., reintroduced a "Transgender Bill of Rights," a proposal that the two had previously submitted in March of 2023.

This time they had two more House Democrats sign on to it, but all things considered, it was a case of bad timing for them.

The day before the Markey-Jayapal announcement and 2,700 miles to the northwest of Washington, D.C., Jesse Van Rootselaar shot and killed his mother and half-brother in their home, then traveled to a local elementary school.

When he arrived he opened fire, killing six children and two adults, and injured 27 others in what was the worst school shooting in Canadian history. Then he turned the weapon on himself.

Van Rootselaar, the 18-year-old shooter, was a male who identified as a female. But the bad timing wasn't over for Markey, Jayapal, and their "Transgender Bill of Rights."

Less than a week later, and closer to home, Robert Dorgan, another male identifying as a female going by the name "Roberta Esposito," opened fire on a Rhode Island youth hockey game.

He killed two and sent three to the hospital before another attendee stepped in and brought an end to the mayhem. At that point Dorgan used another weapon to take his own life.

We've only seen attacks like this from transgender people within the last dozen years or so, suggesting that something had changed — and it did.

Prior to 2013, people suffering from sexual identity issues were typically diagnosed with "gender identity disorder," which implied that the identity mismatch itself was disordered.

But in 2013, the American Psychiatric Association replaced that term with "gender dysphoria," to reduce stigma and remove the implication that being transgender is a mental illness.

The new diagnosis emphasized that being transgender or having a gender identity different from their assigned sex at birth, is not inherently a mental disorder.

The following year Joseph Cambron, a transgender woman (a biological male), stabbed a 12-year-old boy to death in a Louisville, Ky. park.

More such attacks followed:

• Curtis "Moka" Dawkins, a transgender woman, stabbed a man to death in a Toronto apartment in October 2015.
• Andrew "Andrea" Balcer, another transgender woman, stabbed both of his parents to death in October 2016 in Winthrop, Maine.
• Dana Rivers (formerly David Warfield), a transgender woman, shot and stabbed a lesbian couple and their son to death, then set fire to their Oakland, Calif. home in November 2016.
• Zachary McClimans (Claire Wolfever), a transgender woman, shot a co-worker to death at a Mercer, Penn. Walmart store in December 2016.
• Snochia Moseley, a transgender woman, shot three co-workers to death and injured three others at an Aberdeen, Md. Rite Aid warehouse in September 2018.
• Maya "Alec" McKinney, a non-binary/trans male, shot one student to death and injured eight others With an accomplice, at a Highlands Ranch, Colo. STEM School in May 2019.
• Anderson Lee Aldrich, non-binary, shot five people to death and injured 17 others at Club Q, a Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub in November 2022.
• Audrey Hale, a transgender male, shot three children and three adults to death at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tenn. in March 2023.
• Robin Westman, a transgender woman, shot two children to death and injured 28 others (mostly children) at the Minneapolis Annunciation Catholic School during Mass in August 2025.

And that brings us to the two deadly attacks this month by transgender individuals.

This doesn't suggest that a person transitioning from their biological sex to their opposite sex is going to become a raving murderous lunatic. These cases represent but a tiny fraction of people who transition.

However, the list omits those people who are experiencing serious personal issues due to the surgeries and drugs, but are able to work through them with the help of a strong support system from family and friends.

And a not insignificant number of those people realize that it was all a huge mistake.

The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that "Eight percent (8%) of respondents had de-transitioned temporarily or permanently at some point, meaning that they went back to living as the gender they were thought to be at birth for a period of time."

Given all that, it would be far better to return to the pre-2013 days, when gender confusion was considered a mental disorder rather than rush in with drug “therapy” and Frankenstein-like surgery.

And that would conform to the admonition that all physicians should “first, do no harm.”

Last December, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said of gender-affirming “care” for children: “This is not medicine. It is malpractice.”

And except in very rare circumstances, the same applies to adults — it’s malpractice.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and is a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He's also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read more Michael Dorstewitz Insider articles — Click Here Now.