The New York Times is a righteously proud beast. It has Pulitzer-pulling power, a global reach and, by US standards, a long history. Yet for some years, the behemoth brand has been in the crosshairs of GLAAD, the media monitoring organisation which campaigns for fair representation of “LGBTQ people” (though with a focus on the TQ). Perhaps unsurprisingly, it has been the NYT’s reporting on the medicalisation of youngsters who identify as trans that has particularly enraged GLAAD.
Yesterday, the organisation parked a van outside the NYT’s offices, emblazoned in block capitals with the demand: “Stop questioning trans people’s right to exist & access medical care.” On X, formerly known as Twitter, GLAAD explained that the stunt was a response to “yet another biased, anti-trans article” and that the action was designed to hold the paper “accountable”.
The piece that sparked the protest is a sobering read — a lengthy, rigorous and balanced feature examining outcomes for patients and testimonies from staff at a US gender clinic. To anyone outside the trans activist thrall, the article seems almost painful in its restraint. There is no denial of the existence or the feelings of those receiving treatment to ease their gender dysphoria.
Yet, with predictable hyperbole, GLAAD claimed the piece pushed “debunked lies from an anti-trans extremist” and that it “ignored the science of healthcare for transgender people”. This interpretation is so misleading that it’s tempting to suspect the GLAAD activists didn’t bother reading the article before condemning it as heresy. Notably, the woman labelled an “extremist” has a partner who identifies as trans.
GLAAD has taken cheap shots at the NYT before. In February, a coalition of trans lobby groups including GLAAD hired a plane to pull a banner reading, once again in the preferred vernacular of block caps: “10k NYT readers say: better trans stories!”
Complaints levelled at the paper are almost comically ludicrous. These include the fact that a defence of writer J.K. Rowling was published “by a non-LGBTQ essayist” and that the NYT has declined to specifically “commit to hiring transgender reporters and editors”.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
Subscribe