JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — An Alaskan children’s book illustrator known for drawing mother-child animal pairs such as sea otters and wolves was dropped by his publisher this week after authorities stated that he published transphobic notes that threatened children.
Mitchell Thomas Watley, 47, will have a preliminary hearing April 11 in Juneau on charges of making a terroristic threat for allegedly placing notes at businesses that included an assault rifle superimposed on the transgender flag. The lyrics on the notes read: “Feeling Cute Mold Shoot Some Children”.
The notes were found during a time of intense rhetoric and anti-transgender laws across the country, and came just days after a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville that left six dead. Social media accounts and other sources indicate that the shooter identified himself as a man; police said the shooter was assigned female at birth but used male pronouns on a social media profile.
After the Nashville shooting, a false and baseless online narrative emerged claiming that there had been an increase in transgender or non-binary mass shooters in recent years. Some pundits and political influencers on social media have gone further, falsely suggesting that trans rights movements are radicalizing activists into terrorists.
Court documents show Watley referred to the Nashville shooting suspect after his arrest. Watley, who lives in the small coastal town of Juneau, 575 miles (923 kilometers) southeast of Anchorage, was posted $10,000 bail by his wife, according to online records.
“Officers spoke with Mitchell, who (essentially) said he was afraid of a recent transgender school shooting and took it upon himself to print and distribute these flyers,” the criminal complaint states.
Online records do not indicate an attorney for Watley. An unidentified man answered the door of the couple’s home and said there would be no comment.
In Juneau, booksellers brought out Watley’s picture books for his wife, Sarah Asper-Smith. Their publisher, Penguin Random House-owned Sasquatch Books, said Wednesday it had ended its publishing relationship with Watley and would stop selling his books.
Watley is best known as the illustrator of three children’s books written by his wife, including I Would Tuck You In and You Are Home With Me. Children’s books for ages 1-5 show mother animals cuddling their young and trying to make them feel safe. with loving and affirming statements like “wherever you are, you will always have a home with me.”
Juneau retailers began pulling Asper-Smith’s books from their shelves this week, but only those with her husband’s illustrations. She is not charged.
Pat Race with the Alaska Robotics Gallery, a store in downtown Juneau, said the store has hosted galleries and book launches for Watley and has carried his artwork for years.
“Whatever the motivation, we believe Mitch’s actions were not consistent with our values or those of our community,” she said in a statement on social media. “In light of this, we have decided to remove all of Mitch’s books and artwork from our shelves.”
Christy NaMee Eriksen, owner of Kindred Post, a store in downtown Juneau, put out the cards.
Eriksen said in a social media post that the actions Watley is accused of are “terrifying and transphobic”.
“We have little patience for acts of disrespect and zero tolerance for hate against marginalized groups,” Eriksen said. “Members of the trans community are our community.”
Tori Weaver, co-owner of Rainy Retreat Books in downtown Juneau, said the retailer sells Watley’s books, which she says are “incredibly” popular, especially during the busy summer tourist months.
“We don’t want to alienate any of our customers,” he said.
The first of several notes was found in a grocery store on Friday, which was International Transgender Day of Visibility. That discovery prompted Juneau schools to increase security, and some parents kept their children home. Another was found at the Alaska State Office Building. The last tickets were found at a Costco on Sunday, and police used surveillance video from the store to find the man who left the tickets in his vehicle. The vehicle’s registration papers led them to Watley, who was arrested Sunday, authorities said.
The incident also comes as lawmakers across the country are considering bills that limit the rights of transgender people, including in Alaska, where a bill by Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has drawn significant attention.
Parental permission would be required before a student could use a different noun or pronoun in school records; that sex education classes require parental notification and permission, and that schools must provide locker rooms or restrooms based on “biological sex” or access to facilities by an individual occupant.
The bill remains in its first committee in Parliament. Senate leaders of a bipartisan majority of nine Democrats and eight Republicans have already indicated the bill should not advance on their side.
“The anti-trans rhetoric around the country has had an effect on hate crimes or attempted hate crimes like this,” said Caitlin Shortell, an Anchorage civil rights attorney and Identity Inc. board member. , which provides community services and targeted medical care. for the LGBTQ+ community.
She said transgender people rarely commit mass shootings and are more likely to be victims of violence.
“And we’ve seen moves nationally and in Alaska to discriminate against trans people in the name of protecting children and link them to attempted homicides like the one we averted in Juneau,” Shortell said.
A Juneau LGBTQ leader said this situation is a direct result of a national environment directed by political leaders and the media to target and dehumanize trans people.
“The expected outcome is death,” said Emily Mesch, president of SEAGLA, the LGBTQ Alliance of Southeast Alaska.
“They expect violence to affect the trans community and some of us to die, and instead some of them will get a few thousand more votes,” Mesch said. “And that’s the deal with the devil that’s being made, the environment and the dialogue that’s happening nationally.”
Thiessen reported from Anchorage. AP Writer Claire Rush contributed from Portland, Oregon.
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