One year ago 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.
Demands from the 100-plus 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.
On the one year anniversary of the letter’s publication GLAAD returned to the New York Times headquarters with a digital billboard.
“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,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “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)
- Debunked: Misleading NYT Anti-Trans Article By Pamela Paul Relies On Pseudoscience (Erin In The Morning, 2/2024)
- The NYT’s Latest Op-Ed on Trans Kids Has Already Been Cited in an Anti-Trans Legal Brief (Them, 2/2024)
- Profiting From Moral Panic: How Profit-Driven Media Outlets Empowered the Anti-Trans Movement (The Flaw, 1/2024)
- NYT’s Anti-Trans Bias—by the Numbers (FAIR, 4/2023)
- NYT Investigation Offers Biased Reporting on Puberty Blocker Concerns (Assigned Media, 11/2023)
- The New York Times was criticized for its reporting on trans issues. Good. (USA Today, 2/2023)
- I Signed A Critical NYT Trans Letter. Their Response Is Insulting. (Erin In the Morning, 2/2023)
- The New York Times helped fuel an anti-trans panic in 2022. Will 2023 be any better? (Media Matters, 2/2023)
- The New York Times Declares War on LGBTQ People With Hire of Anti-Trans Columnist (The Present Age, 1/2023)
- The Worst Thing We Read This Week: Why Is the New York Times So Obsessed With Trans Kids? (Popula, 1/2023)
- Uncompromising Transphobe David French Hired by NYT Opinion (Assigned Media, 1/2023)
- Pamela Paul’s Gender Agenda (FAIR, 12/2022)
- The NYT’s Big Piece on Puberty Blockers Mucked Up the Most Important Point About Them (Slate, 11/2022)
- Reckless NY Times reporting fuels disinformation about trans youth (LGBTQ Nation, 11/2022)
- The New York Times Posts Another Misinformed, Deranged Story About Trans Youth (Into, 09/2022)
- Nobody is trying to ban the word “woman” (The Present Age, 7/20220)
- The Times Published Some Transphobic BS Over the Weekend (Them, 7/2022)
- Why Does the ‘New York Times’ Feel the Need To Inject Transphobia Into the Fight for Abortion Access? (The Mary Sue, 6/2022)
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
