The Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services has released a new report claiming that support for transgender rights is associated with “left-wing authoritarianism” and a greater willingness to justify political violence.

Critics have dismissed the 20-page report released on 27 August as “junk science” and accused the administration of using taxpayer money to manufacture a justification for targeting trans people and their allies.

The Human Rights Campaign released a statement the same day as the report, writing: “The entities that conducted the supposed ‘research,’ the Manhattan Institute and the Network Contagion Research Institute, are both known conservative-leaning think tanks with track records of producing reports that align with extremist right-wing positions.”

The study surveyed 1,208 US adults, but only 1.1% identified as transgender or nonbinary, while 55% identified as leaning Democratic. Critics say this sample is not representative of the wider US population.

Researchers created their own “Clinical Gender Affirmation Scale” to measure support for trans people, asking participants whether they agreed with statements about respecting transgender identities, names, pronouns, gender expression and children exploring their gender.

The report then attempted to connect those views with support for political violence by asking participants about things including damaging property, attacking police and the killings of political and business figures, namely Charlie Kirk and Brian Thompson.

The survey also included 13 statements that respondents were asked to rate their agreement with on a seven-point scale to measure their “left-wing authoritarian tendencies”. Statements included “America would be much better off if all of the rich people were at the bottom of the social ladder”, “We need to replace the established order by any means necessary”, and “Getting rid of inequality is more important than protecting the so-called ‘right’ to free speech”.

Notably, participants were not asked about their views on the Trump administration’s numerous anti-trans policies.

The report’s authors argue that affirming transgender people can create a sense of “threat” and encourage people to seek institutional control over those who disagree with them. The Human Rights Campaign, however, points to the political backgrounds of the conservative think tanks and researchers involved in producing the report.

Critics say the broader concern is not simply the report itself, but how its findings could be used. Certain right-leaning media outlets have already begun citing it as evidence that trans people and their allies pose a threat to American society at large.