As Republican politicians in red states work to safeguard children from the militant wing of the transgender movement, they're now under threat. 

According to Fox News, Utah Republican state Sen. Mike Kennedy experienced frightening backlash last week after his home was vandalized. The message the perpetrators left was concerning, to say the least.

The vandals spraypainted "fash," short for "fascist," on one of the doors to his home.

Another message read, "These trannies bash back."

What happened?

The state lawmaker came under attack after sponsoring a bill last year known as SB16, which aims to ban transgender-related surgeries on minors. The bill also bans controversial puberty-blocking medication.

Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed the bill into law in January, sparking a firestorm of backlash from the small, but extremely loud -- and sometimes destructive and violent -- trans activist community.

For his part, Kennedy fired back at the vandals, and made it loud and clear that he's not backing down in his fight to protect Utah's children.

"To those who seek to use violence, vandalism, and intimidation to deter me from standing up for what is right, let me be clear: you will not succeed. I will not be deterred by your cowardly actions," he wrote in a Facebook post.

"The recent vandalism to my family's home was not just an attack on me, but on the very principles our state stands for.  We will not let fear and violence control our destiny," he continued.

"As Utahns, we will always stand up and push back against radicals who seek to push their agenda in our state. I am more determined than ever to work with the good people of Utah to make our state a better place for all, especially our children, and I won't back down."

Damage control

Not surprisingly, some LGBTQ advocacy groups released statements making clear that they weren't responsible for the vandalism, and condoned it.

"We do not know who participated in this action, but we have been informed this may have been an act of retaliation for his sponsorship of SB 16. To the extent this, or any other act of violence or vandalism against our public officials, is related to LGBTQ advocacy, we want to make it clear that Equality Utah condemns these tactics in the absolute strongest terms,"a group called Equality Utah wrote.

They also admitted that such acts hurt the LGBTQ advocacy movement.

Utah is one of 11 states at the current time that have taken action to ban minors from receiving trans-related surgeries.