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ANATOMY OF AN ASSAULT: HOW RHETORIC BECAME BRUTAL REALITY IN A CARPENTERSVILLE MCDONALD'S [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-06-22

How Does Online Rhetoric Fuel Real-World Violence Against Vulnerable Communities?

Online hate provides the script for offline violence. It starts with “a very orchestrated network of right-wing accounts” (Collins), pushing potent scare tactics like “‘men disguised as women in girls’ restrooms’” (Sosin). What follows is a predictable surge of violence by those willing to enforce gender conformity with their fists.

The brutal physical assault on Kady Grass was the direct enactment of a political script centered on "bathroom bills" (Scott Wiener). This anti-trans rhetoric fosters a climate of gender policing in sex-segregated spaces, targeting anyone who deviates from rigid gender norms (Adam Gabbatt). The attack on Grass, a lesbian with short hair, was triggered the moment she exited the women’s restroom (Morgan Music). Her assailants immediately called her a “faggot,” a homophobic slur that linked her gender non-conforming appearance to her sexuality (Abby Monteil; Daniel Villarreal). Grass explicitly identified this connection as the cause: “How it started was because I’m a lesbian — just because I walked into the woman’s bathroom, and I looked the way I look” (Abby Monteil). Her presence violated her attackers' expectations for that space, and the violence that followed was the physical enforcement of that political script.

The initial verbal harassment, a clear reflection of the bathroom panic, escalated to premeditated violence. After the slur, Grass’s 13-year-old cousin overheard one suspect threaten, "We don't need weapons to kill you" (Andie Bernhardt; "John Kammrad facing hate crime charge..."). John Kammrad, 19, and a 16-year-old juvenile then punched Grass from the front and back, stomping on her head after she fell to the ground and knocking her unconscious. The assault left her with a broken nose, a hemorrhage in one eye, and severe bruising (Kate Linderman; Abby Monteil).

However, despite this obvious attempt to terrorize, The Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office initially declined to file hate crime charges (Susan Sarkauskas; Amie Schaenzer). This forced Grass to become an advocate, repeatedly stating the attack was motivated by her identity (Kate Linderman). "I don’t understand how hate crime charges didn’t happen when the whole argument and how it built up to the battery charges was because I am the way I am," she said (Jake Wittich). After significant media attention and a review, a grand jury indicted both assailants on hate crime charges ("Man, juvenile indicted for hate crime..."). "I fought so hard and I finally got it,” Grass said of the outcome (Kate Linderman).

The attack on Grass was not a random anomaly but a predictable consequence of a political environment rife with hostile rhetoric—a process known as stochastic terrorism (Helen Santoro; Alejandra Caraballo). This is fueled by what California State Senator Scott Wiener calls an “orchestrated attack machine” of right-wing media and influencers who amplify anti-LGBTQ+ narratives (Ben Collins). Groups like the Heritage Foundation and Alliance Defending Freedom start by crafting anti-trans model legislation, including bathroom bills, to use as a "wedge issue" (Samantha Riedel; "Far-Right Groups Flood..."). Professor Randall Balmer states that as other social issues fade, political operatives "frantically" seek new ones like trans rights to keep their evangelical base "riled up" (Kate Sosin). GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis says that then, when media networks broadcast "horrific lies about LGBTQ people...an increase in threats and violence is the natural result" (Adam Gabbatt).

The final layer of this tragedy is the reported identities of the assailants—a Black 19-year-old and a Latino-looking 16-year-old (Daniel Villarreal)—which suggests a case of horizontal hostility where the "authoritarian playbook" succeeds in fracturing solidarity among oppressed groups (Alejandra Caraballo).

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