Harvard’s “They/Them” Professor Teams With House Dems To Spend Your Taxes On Research Promoting Trans Youth Violence

Mapping the network of political violence

The assassination of Charlie Kirk by a radical transgender activist has once again spotlighted the growing militancy inside the LGBTQ+ protest movement. What the mainstream media won’t tell you is that this rising wave of aggressive activism isn’t happening in a vacuum.

It’s being carefully studied, organized, and in some cases directly subsidized by U.S. taxpayer dollars.

At the center of this network sits Erica Chenoweth, a Harvard professor who identifies as nonbinary and uses “they/them” pronouns.

Chenoweth has built a career researching how youth and LGBTQ+ activists can be mobilized in protest movements, focusing less on morality or safety and more on which tactics are “effective.”

Chenoweth leads Harvard’s Nonviolent Action Lab.

This USAID-funded project is hardwired into the Democrat party apparatus. They partnered with Rep. Pramila Jayapal to run a series of “Resistance Labs” designed to train far-left activists for confrontation and disruption.

Jayapal herself told activists she wanted them to be “strike ready,”even suggesting violence may be “coming.” She further promised to share the trainings with the rest of her Democrat congressional colleagues.

The Harvard lab is housed inside the Ash Center for Democratic Governance, which deleted webpages confirm has taken major funding from both USAID and the State Department. Translation — your tax dollars.

Erica Chenoweth’s Role

Chenoweth personally joined Jayapal’s “Resistance Labs.” Identifying as a “nonbinary,” Chenoweth uses “they/them” pronouns.

According to their CV, they have lectured at USAID’s Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance Center for several years, including 2015, 2016, and 2022.

They have also authored several USAID-funded memos under five-figure grants, including Youth and LGBTQ+ Participation in Nonviolent Action, Struggles from Below: Human Rights Struggles by Domestic Actors, and Civil Resistance and Corporate Behavior: Mapping Trends and Assessing Impact.

Researching Violence, Not Peace

Despite the “nonviolent” branding, Chenoweth’s work focuses heavily on terrorism, violent protest, and the conditions under which they succeed.

A small selection of publications reveal this darker, underlying them:

• How to Topple a Dictator

• The Role of Violence in Nonviolent Resistance

• Resilient Republics: Why Terrorism Does Not Destroy Democracy

• To Bribe or to Bomb: Do Corruption and Terrorism Go Together?

  Youth & LGBTQ+ Activism as a Strategic Roadmap

In a Harvard Ash Center article titled “As youth and LGBTQ+ protestors increasingly take to the streets, are their voices being heard?”, Chenoweth and co-researcher Zoe Marks argue that young and LGBTQ+ activists are emerging as a global force in protest movements, though often sidelined in formal negotiations. The thrust of the research is clear: these groups are not merely cultural actors, but political tools to be harnessed strategically in struggles for power.

That framing aligns directly with the mission of the “Resistance Labs,” where identity politics are treated less as questions of justice and more as assets for mobilization in disruptive campaigns.

Training the Next Wave of Activists

Chenoweth’s influence extends well beyond Harvard. They have spoken at Yale on the question “Is Terrorism Ever Legitimate?”, organized Harvard’s “Paths to Violence Workshop,” and hosted a “Workshop on Nonviolent Strategies in Violent Settings.”

Taken together, the speaking tours, USAID grants, and direct partnerships with Democrat lawmakers reveal a sobering picture: federal dollars and elite universities are actively cultivating networks of activists not for peaceful dissent but for escalation, disruption, and, when deemed strategically effective, violence.