On September 3 a local Tennessee newspaper involved in an ongoing lawsuit over the release of deceased Covenant shooter and trans-identified female Audrey Hale decided to publish 90 pages of the journal without explicit permission from the court. Defending its decision to publish the documents, representatives for the outlet argue they’ve had the First Amendment protected right to publish the documents ever since they legally obtained them.
The published pages reveal little new information, but corroborate much of what has already been presupposed, including the fact that Hale had animosity towards white people and Christians, specifically. Hale also repeatedly draws an octagonal symbol which can be seen repeated throughout the journal. It appears close to discussions and plans about her attack, which is variously mentioned throughout the pages.
Blaze Media editor in chief Matthew Peterson said that as an organization, they’ve had a longstanding policy to avoid publicizing the political documents produced by mass shooters to avoid incentivizing the behavior. He suggested that the environment and context in this case, where suspicion that Hale had hatred towards white Christians could be confirmed by releasing the documents justified publishing them for public scrutiny. Peterson also highlighted how leftists in government service have a very specific agenda and biases when it comes to trans-identified individuals and white Christians.
Commenters also discussed the nature of mass shooters to draw influence from one another as another reason for limited media exposure. Peterson ultimately suggested that the release was necessary due to government censorship of the contents to protect the social image of trans people.
It’s also evident from the contents of the journal that Hale was deeply disturbed. Repeatedly she writes of how much pain she is in. She writes about her sexual identity and bizarre fantasies about being a male and male-bodied.
The release is a slap in the face of the FBI, which repeatedly argued in legal filings to avoid public disclosure of the contents of the journal.
