“The New York Times’ inaccurate, irresponsible coverage of the transgender community is regularly utilized by extremist lawmakers to justify taking away best practice health care from youth. The Times has continued down its path of ignoring the trans community, their healthcare providers, and medical experts.
As the Times continues down this path, they become more irrelevant every day.”
February 15, 2024 – One year ago today, a coalition of more than 100 LGBTQ organizations and notables called out the New York Times’ pattern of publishing inaccurate, biased pieces about transgender people that are regularly used by extremist lawmakers and extremist organizations in court as justification for banning trans people from accessing best practice medical care. GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) media advocacy organization, was among those in the coalition demanding better from the Times.
To date, the coalition has not received a response from the Times. The coalition had three asks of the newspaper, none of which appear to have been met. A digital billboard is stationed in front of the New York Times Headquarters today echoing these messages. Photos/videos available via [email protected].
Demands from the 100+ organizations and notables (full list below) signed onto coalition letter on February 15, 2023:
- Stop printing biased anti-trans stories, immediately.
- Listen to trans people: hold a meeting with trans community leaders within two months.
- Hire at least four full-time trans writers and editors within three months.
Statement from GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis:
“The New York Times’ inaccurate, irresponsible coverage of the transgender community is regularly utilized by extremist lawmakers to justify taking away best practice health care from youth. The Times has continued down its path of ignoring the trans community, their healthcare providers, and medical experts.
They have not taken our coalition up on our offer to meet with leaders from the trans community, nor have they hired any trans journalists full time, and have gone so far as to discipline their employees for bringing up valid and accurate critique of the newspaper’s trans coverage.
As the Times continues down this path, they become more irrelevant every day. We remain eager to meet with the Times to help correct these coverage failures.”
Trans journalists Erin Reed and Evan Urquhart issued a comprehensive takedown of the Times’ most recent biased, inaccurate piece on trans healthcare here. Medical expert Dr. Jack Turban also weighed in to correct disinformation in that piece here.
Immediately after the last biased, inaccurate piece in the Times, it was cited in an anti-trans legal brief by the extremist Alliance Defending Freedom, a SPLC-designated hate group.
A January 2024 expose by The Flaw magazine looked at the Times’ “distinct culpability” in the paper’s ongoing trans coverage, citing journalist Maximillian Alvarez: “the Times knows damn well that its articles are being cited in state legislatures around the country as justification for the hundreds of genocidal, anti-trans anti-queer bills that are being introduced left and right.”
Note that despite claims made by the Times in an effort to discredit their own contributors, the coalition letter was a wholly separate effort from a letter on the same topic signed by more than 1,000 Times contributors last February.
Additional response to the Times’ irresponsible, biased coverage includes:
- Pamela Paul Shows NYT Opinion’s Lack of Accountability to the Truth (Assigned Media 2/2024) https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/pamela-paul-shows-opinion-is-opinion-is-opinion
- Debunked: Misleading NYT Anti-Trans Article By Pamela Paul Relies On Pseudoscience (Erin In The Morning, 2/2024) https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/debunked-misleading-nyt-anti-trans
- The NYT’s Latest Op-Ed on Trans Kids Has Already Been Cited in an Anti-Trans Legal Brief (Them, 2/2024) https://www.them.us/story/new-york-times-detransition-youth-op-ed-pamela-paul-chase-strangio
- Profiting From Moral Panic: How Profit-Driven Media Outlets Empowered the Anti-Trans Movement (The Flaw, 1/2024) https://theflaw.org/articles/profiting-from-moral-panic/
- NYT’s Anti-Trans Bias—by the Numbers (FAIR, 4/2023) https://fair.org/home/nyts-anti-trans-bias-by-the-numbers/
- NYT Investigation Offers Biased Reporting on Puberty Blocker Concerns (Assigned Media, 11/2023) https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/nyt-investigation-finds-concerns-about-puberty-blockers-for-trans-youth?rq=NYT
- The New York Times was criticized for its reporting on trans issues. Good. (USA Today, 2/2023) https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2023/02/20/transgender-people-new-york-times-debacle/11264346002/
- I Signed A Critical NYT Trans Letter. Their Response Is Insulting. (Erin In the Morning, 2/2023) https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/i-signed-a-critical-nyt-trans-letter
- The New York Times helped fuel an anti-trans panic in 2022. Will 2023 be any better? (Media Matters, 2/2023) https://www.mediamatters.org/new-york-times/new-york-times-helped-fuel-anti-trans-panic-2022-will-2023-be-any-better
- The New York Times Declares War on LGBTQ People With Hire of Anti-Trans Columnist (The Present Age, 1/2023) https://www.readtpa.com/p/david-french-nyt-anti-lgbtq
- The Worst Thing We Read This Week: Why Is the New York Times So Obsessed With Trans Kids? (Popula, 1/2023) https://popula.com/2023/01/29/the-worst-thing-we-read-this-week-why-is-the-new-york-times-so-obsessed-with-trans-kids/
- Uncompromising Transphobe David French Hired by NYT Opinion (Assigned Media, 1/2023) https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/uncompromising-transphobic-christian-writer-david-french-to-write-for-nyt
- Pamela Paul’s Gender Agenda (FAIR, 12/2022) https://fair.org/home/pamela-pauls-gender-agenda/
- The NYT’s Big Piece on Puberty Blockers Mucked Up the Most Important Point About Them (Slate, 11/2022) https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/puberty-blockers-side-effects-controversy.html
- Reckless NY Times reporting fuels disinformation about trans youth (LGBTQ Nation, 11/2022) https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/11/reckless-ny-times-reporting-fuels-disinformation-trans-youth/
- The New York Times Posts Another Misinformed, Deranged Story About Trans Youth (Into, 09/2022) https://www.intomore.com/advocacy/new-york-times-posts-another-misinformed-deranged-story-trans-youth/
- Nobody is trying to ban the word “woman” (The Present Age, 7/20220) https://www.readtpa.com/p/woman
- The Times Published Some Transphobic BS Over the Weekend (Them, 7/2022) https://www.them.us/story/new-york-times-op-ed-women-gender-inclusive-language-misogyny-trans-rights
- Why Does the ‘New York Times’ Feel the Need To Inject Transphobia Into the Fight for Abortion Access? (The Mary Sue, 6/2022) https://www.themarysue.com/new-york-times-transphobic-abortion-article/
Full list of signers to the coalition letter:
Accountable for Equality
Advocates for Youth
Alaskans Together For Equality
Alejandra Caraballo
Ali Forney Center
Alok Vaid-Menon
Amber and Adam Briggle
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research
Amy Schneider
Arianna’s Center
Arkansas Black Gay Men’s Forum
Ashlee Marie Preston
Athlete Ally
Aydian Dowling
Basic Rights Oregon
Blair Imani
Braunwyn Windham-Burke
Britt Tanner
Cassils
CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
Center on Halsted
Charlotte Clymer
Christian Fuscarino
Chris Mosier
City of Milwaukee Equal Rights Commission
Diverse and Resilient
Dr. David J. Johns
Dr. Dorian Rhea Debussy
Dylan Mulvaney
Equality Arizona
Equality California
Equality Delaware, Inc.
Equality Federation
Equality Florida
Equality New Mexico
Equality New York
Equality North Carolina
Equality Ohio
Equality South Dakota
Equality Texas
Equality Virginia
EqualityMaine
Equitas Health
Erin Reed
Ethan Cole
Fair Wisconsin
Fairness Campaign
Family Equality
FEMINIST
Feminist Bird Club
Feminist Majority Foundation
Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus
Freedom Oklahoma
Gabrielle Union-Wade
Garden State Equality
Gender Justice
Gen-Z for Change
Georgia Equality
GLAAD
GLSEN
GMHC
GSAFE
Hannah Gadsby
Heather Dubrow
Helen Boyd & Rachel Crowl
Human Rights Campaign
It Gets Better Project
Jack Ketsoyan
Jameela Jamil
Jazz Jennings
Jen Grosshandler
Jen Richards
Jessica Garcia
Jessica Herthel
Joey Soloway
Johnny Sibilly
Jonathan Van Ness
Josh Helfgott
Judd Apatow
Ken Phillips
Keshet: For LGBTQ equality in Jewish life
Kit Mee Kuen Yan
Lavender Rights Project
Lena Dunham
Lina Bradford
Louisiana Trans Advocates
Maeve DuVally
Maine Transgender Network
Marci Bowers, MD
Margaret Cho
Marti Cummings
Mass Equality
Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
Matt Wolf
Matthew Shepard Foundation
Melanie Willingham-Jaggers
Melissa Li
Melissa Sklarz
Milwaukee LGBT Community Center
Mixed Media Works
Montana Human Rights Network
Ms. magazine
National Black Justice Coalition
National LGBTQ Task Force
National Women’s Law Center
Nefesh Los Angeles
New York City’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
Nina West
NYC Pride
One Colorado
One Iowa
One Iowa Action
Out Boulder County
OutCasting Media – public radio’s LGBTQ youth program
Out Montclair
OutFront Minnesota
OutNebraska
OutReach LGBTQ+ Community Center
ParentsTogether
Partnership To End AIDS Status Inc.
Paul Feig
Peppermint
PFLAG Mt. Horeb
PFLAG National
PFLAG Newport Beach
Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents blog
Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities
Point of Pride
Pride Foundation
Precious Brady-Davis
Producer Entertainment Group
QUEERSPACE collective
Queer Liberation Library
Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie
Rabbi Bonnie Margulis
Rabbi Daniel Bogard
Rabbi Susan Goldberg
Rainbow Democrats
Rainbow Families Bay Area
Raquel Willis
Robyn Ochs
SAGE
San Francisco LGBTQ Center
Shakina
Southern Legal Counsel
Stonewall Democratic Club of NYC
Supermajority
Tennessee Equality Project
The GenderCool Project
The Hetrick Martin Institute
The Media and Democracy Project
The Normal Anomaly Initiative, Inc.
The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, IX Bishop of New Hampshire (ret.), The Episcopal Church
The Sacred Cloth Project
The Transformation Project
The Woodhull Freedom Foundation
Tommy Dorfman
TRANSATHLETE
Transgender Education Network of Texas
Transgender Law Center
Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund
Transinclusive Group
Trans Journalists Association
TransOhio
UltraViolet
Victoria Kirby York
WCB PFLAG
Wilson Cruz
Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Women’s March
World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)
Zackary Drucker
