Reports have confirmed that the young man who allegedly assassinated Christian and conservative activist Charlie Kirk was living with a transgender-identifying romantic partner ­— a revelation adding to ongoing national dialogue.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R) and FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that Tyler Robinson, the suspected killer, grew up in a conservative household but held starkly different political beliefs. While Robinson himself did not identify as transgender, his romantic connection to someone who does has drawn significant attention. With several recent instances of gun violence involving individuals who identify as transgender or non-binary, many are asking: Could gender ideology, and the medical interventions associated with it, play a role in such violent acts?

“[I]t’s a very important conversation,” said guest host Jody Hice on Monday’s episode of “Washington Watch.” Addressing Kirk’s alleged assassin, Hice noted, “it could be coincidence,” but asked Walt Heyer, a senior fellow at Family Research Council and a prominent detransitioner, “would you be at all surprised if it’s not?” Heyer responded decisively: “Well, I don’t think it’s coincidence at all.”

Heyer, drawing from his personal experience with hormone therapy, explained the profound impact of such treatments. “What we’ve seen with these [gender] clinics, hormones, and surgery … is how hormones by themselves devalue, dehumanize, and begin to destroy a person’s ability to function as a man or a woman. … The hormones are dangerous. They alter the way they think, feel, and behave. I know that because I took them for 12 years.” He argued that “these hormones should not be available to anyone in the United States for the sole purpose of changing their gender.” Heyer also challenged the terminology surrounding gender ideology, calling the term “transitioning” deceptive. “The fact of the matter is, no one in all of world history has ever changed their gender. Hormones and surgery does not change your gender.”

While these procedures may alter “the way you look, feel, and behave,” Heyer emphasized, they do not change one’s biological makeup. He further described the psychological risks of hormone treatments, likening them to “anabolic steroids.” “They’re actually dangerous, and they cause people to behave in ways, sometimes more aggressively, sometimes not more aggressively,” he said. Citing “a great deal” of research, Heyer highlighted the lack of regulation surrounding these drugs, noting that even “Planned Parenthood gives them out.” Without oversight, he warned, “people can overdose on them.”

In many ways, Heyer stressed, “We give them out like candy, and they’re destroying people.” He laid bare his own testimony, stating that “they destroyed my life until I stopped taking them after 12 years.” Tying this to Kirk’s assassination, Heyer suggested that while Robinson was not transgender himself, he was “obviously influenced deeply by his romantic partner, somebody who’s transitioning.”

Hice expanded the discussion, noting, “It’s not just the hormones in the medication that you bring up, though. It’s the ideology itself. That is also destructive, isn’t it?” Heyer agreed, asserting that “the ideology is what fostered the clinics.” To dismantle this ideology, he argued, society must first address the gender clinics. “The ideology is based in hormones and surgery. And so, if you eliminate the hormones and surgery, you begin to eradicate the ideology.”

Heyer pointed to historical precedent, stating, “Back in 1979, doctors found out that it was not effective to give people hormones and surgery. In 1979, they closed all of the clinics that were in universities that year because they said this was ineffective and it was causing too many people to commit suicide and be depressed about their lives.” He emphasized that “hormones cause you to be more depressed and cause more anxiety,” a factor he believes contributes to violent behavior. In the context of recent political violence, Heyer suggested that “what we’re seeing with shooters,” particularly those with a history of hormone use, reflects deep dissatisfaction: “They don’t like who they are. They don’t like anybody.”

In his concluding remarks, Heyer called for a reevaluation of hormone therapies and gender-affirming surgeries. “The hormones are not helping anybody. They’re really destroying and eroding the foundation of our families and our society. And we really need to take a hard look at making them available. … [I]f it was up to me, there wouldn’t be any hormones and surgery available for anybody in this country.”