Harper’s Magazine is an American publication founded in 1850. In the 21st century, amid the disruption of journalism and media, the magazine has had a revolving door of editors, leading to a number of questionable decisions that have affected the publication’s reputation.
No transgender journalist has ever appeared on their masthead since its founding in 1850.
“A Letter on Justice and Open Debate”
In 2020, Thomas Chatterton Williams led the effort to draft a letter decrying “illiberalism” with help from Robert Worth, George Packer, David Greenberg, and Mark Lilla. They then sought signatories without divulging who had signed. Because it “was passed among circles of activists and writers,” it is an excellent example of how anti-trans networks operate.
It’s one of the best recent examples of what Julia Serano calls “the Dregerian narrative” in which some elitists claim they are being persecuted or silenced by the minorities they exploit. The list featured an unusually large proportion of “gender critical” mainstays.
Signatories
Elliot Ackerman, Saladin Ambar, Martin Amis, Anne Applebaum, Marie Arana, Margaret Atwood, John Banville, Mia Bay, Louis Begley, Roger Berkowitz, Paul Berman, Sheri Berman, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Neil Blair, David W. Blight, Jennifer Finney Boylan, David Bromwich, David Brooks, Ian Buruma, Lea Carpenter, Noam Chomsky, Nicholas Christakis, Roger Cohen, Frances D. Cook, Drucilla Cornell, Kamel Daoud, Meghan Daum, Gerald Early, Jeffrey Eugenides, Dexter Filkins, Federico Finchelstein, Caitlin Flanagan, Richard T. Ford, Kmele Foster, David Frum, Francis Fukuyama, Atul Gawande, Todd Gitlin, Kim Ghattas, Malcolm Gladwell, Michelle Goldberg, Rebecca Goldstein, Anthony Grafton, David Greenberg, Linda Greenhouse, Kerri Greenidge, Rinne B. Groff, Sarah Haider, Jonathan Haidt, Roya Hakakian, Shadi Hamid, Jeet Heer, Katie Herzog, Susannah Heschel, Adam Hochschild, Arlie Russell Hochschild, Eva Hoffman, Coleman Hughes, Hussein Ibish, Michael Ignatieff, Zaid Jilani, Bill T. Jones, Wendy Kaminer, Matthew Karp, Garry Kasparov, Daniel Kehlmann, Randall Kennedy, Khaled Khalifa, Parag Khanna, Laura Kipnis, Frances Kissling, Enrique Krauze, Anthony Kronman, Joy Ladin, Nicholas Lemann, Mark Lilla, Susie Linfield, Damon Linker, Dahlia Lithwick, Steven Lukes, John R. MacArthur, Susan Madrak, Phoebe Maltz Bovy, Greil Marcus, Wynton Marsalis, Kati Marton, Debra Mashek, Deirdre McCloskey, John McWhorter, Uday Mehta, Andrew Moravcsik, Yascha Mounk, Samuel Moyn, Meera Nanda, Cary Nelson, Olivia Nuzzi, Mark Oppenheimer, Dael Orlandersmith, George Packer, Nell Irvin Painter, Greg Pardlo, Orlando Patterson, Steven Pinker, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Katha Pollitt, Claire Bond Potter, Taufiq Rahim, Zia Haider Rahman, Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, Jonathan Rauch, Neil Roberts, Melvin Rogers, Kat Rosenfield, Loretta J. Ross, J. K. Rowling, Salman Rushdie, Karim Sadjadpour, Daryl Michael Scott, Diana Senechal, Jennifer Senior, Judith Shulevitz, Jesse Singal, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Andrew Solomon, Deborah Solomon, Allison Stanger, Paul Starr, Wendell Steavenson, Gloria Steinem, Nadine Strossen, Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., Kian Tajbakhsh, Zephyr Teachout, Cynthia Tucker, Adaner Usmani, Chloé Valdary, Lucía Martínez Valdivia, Helen Vendler, Judy B. Walzer, Michael Walzer, Eric K. Washington, Caroline Weber, Randi Weingarten, Bari Weiss, Sean Wilentz, Garry Wills, Thomas Chatterton Williams, Robert F. Worth, Molly Worthen, Matthew Yglesias, Emily Yoffe, Cathy Young, Fareed Zakaria
A More Specific Letter on Justice and Open Debate
A letter countering it appeared shortly after that discussed the original’s “gender critical” aims:
The letter reads as a caustic reaction to a diversifying industry — one that’s starting to challenge institutional norms that have protected bigotry. The writers of the letter use seductive but nebulous concepts and coded language to obscure the actual meaning behind their words, in what seems like an attempt to control and derail the ongoing debate about who gets to have a platform.
In fact, a number of the signatories have made a point of punishing people who have spoken out against them, including Bari Weiss (who made a name for herself as a Columbia University undergrad by harassing and infringing upon the speech of professors she considered to be anti-Israel, and later attempted to shame multiple media outlets into firing freelance journalist Erin Biba for her tweets), Katha Pollitt (whose transphobic rhetoric has extended to trying to deny trans journalists access to professional networking tools), Emily Yoffe (who has spoken out against sexual-assault survivors expressing their free speech rights), Anne-Marie Slaughter (who terminated her Google-funded organization’s partnership with a Google critic), and Cary Nelson (whose support of free speech, apparently, does not extend to everyone) — just to name a few. What gives them the right to use their platforms to harass others into silence, especially writers with smaller platforms and less institutional support, while preaching that silencing writers is a problem?
Rowling, one of the signers, has spouted transphobic and transmisogynist rhetoric, mocking the idea that trans men could exist, and likening transition-related medical care such as hormone replacement therapy to conversion therapy. She directly interacts with fans on Twitter, publishes letters littered with transphobic rhetoric, and gets away with platforming violent anti-trans speakers to her 14 million followers.
Jesse Singal, another signer, is a cis man infamous for advancing his career by writing derogatorily about trans issues. In 2018, Singal had a cover story in The Atlantic expressing skepticism about the benefits of gender-affirming care for trans youth. No trans writer has been afforded the same space. Singal often faces and dismisses criticism from trans people, but he has a much larger platform than any trans journalist. In fact, a 2018 Jezebel report found that Singal was part of a closed Google listserv of more than 400 left-leaning media elites who praised his work, with not a single out trans person in the group. He also has an antagonistic history with trans journalists, academics, and other writers, dedicating many Medium posts to attempting to refute or discredit their claims and reputations.
It’s also clear that the organizers of the letter did not communicate clearly and honestly with all the signatories. One invited professor, who did not sign the Harper’s letter, said that he was asked to sign a letter “arguing for bolder, more meaningful efforts at racial and gender inclusion in journalism, academia, and the arts.” The letter in its final form fails to make this argument at all. Another of the signers, author and professor Jennifer Finney Boylan, who is also a trans woman, said on Twitter that she did not know who else had signed it until it was published. Another signatory, Lucia Martinez Valdivia, said in a Medium post: “When I asked to know who the other signatories were, the names I was shown were those of people of color from all over the political spectrum, and not those of people who have taken gender-critical or trans-exclusionary positions.”
Under the guise of free speech and free exchange of ideas, the letter appears to be asking for unrestricted freedom to espouse their points of view free from consequence or criticism.
Other critics
Jeff Yang criticized the letter:
It’s hard not to see the letter as merely an elegantly written affirmation of elitism and privilege.
Each has also, in the face of resultant backlash, dismissed rebuttals and positioned themselves as beleaguered victims of the current culture, turning their support for open debate and free expression into an example of stark hypocrisy or sly gaslighting.
That’s because even if the letter were warranted — even if it weren’t an off-note, Olympian statement that reads as self-interested and elitist at best — it’s sure to be used by serial bad actors on the list as a shield against legitimate criticism.
Yang, Jeff (July 10, 2020). The problem with ‘the letter.’ CNN https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/opinions/the-letter-harpers-cancel-culture-open-debate-yang/index.html
In 2022, they published a letter to the editor by conservative and anti-trans activists who oppose medical consensus for trans youth healthcare. It was titled “Press pause on Conversion Therapy Bill.” The bill would make non-affirming models of care illegal.
Signatories (April 10, 2022) Press pause on Conversion Therapy Bill.The Sunday Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/press-pause-on-conversion-therapy-bill-g7vbtvc7h
The Advocate is a prominent American publication for sex and gender minorities. It is left-leaning and consistently neutral to positive in its coverage of trans topics.
Background
The Los Angeles Advocate was founded in 1967 following police raids on gay bars. One of the founders bought the others out, and In 1969 the newspaper was renamed The Advocate and distributed nationally in gay bars and bookstores. In 1974, investment banker David B. Goodstein bought the publication and transformed it into a bi-weekly national news magazine. In 1985 it twitched from a tabloid format to a magazine format.
In the 1970s, The Advocate expanded into coverage of politics, culture, and national activism. In the 1980s, it played a critical role in reporting on the AIDS crisis. In the 1990s, they began covering celebrity culture more, presenting notable LGBTQ people and allies on the cover.
In the 21st century, The Advocate changed owners through several mergers and acquisitions, including Planet Out, Here Media, and Pride Media. While Here Media acquired the publication in 2010, the website and print publication were split into separate entities, with Grand Editorial contracted to print Out magazine and The Advocate. During this time it featured coverage of the fights for LGBTQ military service and marriage equality.
“Recommended reading for anyone interested in the study of gender identity and sexual orientation…. It is written, however, in a style that makes it easily easily accessible to any reader.” — Out Magazine [review by Duncan Osborne]
256pp., 6″ x 8.5″ hardback ISBN 0-309-08418-0 $24.95 To order: Call toll-free 1-888-624-7651 or Browse before you buy – preview a full-text, searchable version or buy a downloadable, PDF online at www.nap.edu
Calpernia Addams and I called up the editor that day and got a perspective piece printed in the next available edition. After reading the book, the editor assured us the ad would not run again.
There’s work to do. For example: J. Michael Bailey, a professor who claims to be a friend of our community, has just put out a very defamatory book. In The Man Who Would Be Queen, he links transsexual women to The Silence of the Lambs and notes that we work as “strippers and prostitutes, as well as in many other occupations.” Because we believe in fighting unjust media depictions wherever we find them, we took time from our other projects to address and counter this insidious book.
Criticisms
Trans activists criticized the publication’s coverage of trans topice from the 1970s through the 1990s. Others criticized its overfocus on white gay men and gay conservatives. The Advocate also came under fire for not being consistent in editorial policies around outing, especially for closeted anti-gay public figures.
Clickbait and call-out culture (2014)
As the publication moved to digital-first, the website advocate.com came under criticism for moving away from deeply reported journalism to click-bait focused stories that centered on celebrities and outrage.
In 2014, editor Lucas Grindley hired transgender “call-out culture” ringleader Parker Molloy to cover trans issues for the website. Molloy quickly began promoting friends and disparaging trans and drag entertainers whose views differed from Molloy’s, including Laverne Cox, Candis Cayne, Our Lady J, Jen Richards, Calpernia Addams, and RuPaul. Molloy was eventually suspended and left the website in late 2014 after calling out colleagues publicly. Grindley left The Advocate in 2018.
LGBTQ&A podcast (2016–)
In August 2016, Jeffrey Masters began hosting the LGBTQ&A podcast, produced by The Advocate. Trans and gender divser guests have included Miss Major, Zeke Smith, Laverne Cox, Alok Vaid-Menon, Gigi Gorgeous, Kate Bornstein, Danica Roem, and Mariana Marroquín.
Bendix, Trish (January 25, 2019). Does LGBT media have a future?BuzzFeed News https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/trishbendix/future-of-lgbt-media-out-advocate-autostraddle-into-grindr
Gadd, Christianne A. (2012). “The Advocate” and the Making of a Gay Model Minority 1967–2007. Lehigh University Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1340 https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/228641708.pdf [archive]
Saucier, J. A., & Caron, S. L. (2008). An Investigation of Content and Media Images in Gay Men’s Magazines. Journal of Homosexuality, 55(3), 504–523. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918360802345297
Moses, Lucia (December 19, 2008). The Advocate to Go Monthly.Adweek http://www.adweek.com/news/press/advocate-go-monthly-110784
Highleyman, Liz September 28, 2007). What Is the History of The Advocate? Past Out. Letters From CAMP Rehoboth http://www.camprehoboth.com/issue09_14_07/past_out.htm [archive]
Joseph Henry Press (June 10, 2003). [ad for The Man Who Would Be Queen]. The Advocate
Addams C, James A (July 22, 2003). Transformations. The Advocate. http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/894/894_transformations.asp [archive]
The American Conservative was founded by Pat Buchanan, Scott McConnell and Taki Theodoracopulos in October 2002.
In February 2003, Ross Douthat co-founded the standalone group blog The American Scene with Reihan Salam and Steven Menashi. It was associated with The American Conservative and had a less formal style. After Douthat and Salam left, the blog was rebranded in 2007 and was slowly absorbed back into The American Conservative.
The Daily Caller is an American conservative group blog that publishes consistently anti-transgender content.
Background
Daily Caller was founded in 2010 by Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel, carlson’s former college roommate and advidor to Dick Cheney. It was created as a “conservative answer to The Huffington Post.” Foster Friess provided $3 million on startup funding. In June 2020, Carlson was bought out by Patel and left the project.
In July 2010 Daly Caller published leaked emails from JournoList, a trans-exclusionary private online forum for elite journalists. February 2012 the published several hit pieces on internal operations at Media Matters for America.
In November 2016 Vince Coglianese replaced Carlson as editor-in-chief. In 2017, they founded Check Your Fact, a for-profit “fact-checking” subsidiary wholly owned by The Daily Caller, Inc. In November 2024, Dylan Housman became editor in chief.
In 2020, they founded the nonprofit Daily Caller News Foundation.
Anti-trans coverage
Daily Caller frequently covers anti-trans stories about transgender athletes and healthcare for trans and gender diverse minors.
Contributors
Contributors who have written about trans topics include:
The New York Times is an American media organization. With some notable exceptions, their coverage of transgender issues has been neutral to negative. The Science, Opinion, and Books sections have been particularly biased on trans issues.
No transgender journalist has appeared on the New York Times masthead since its founding in 1851. Due to the hostile work environment, no transgender reporters worked there according to a 2023 San Francisco Chroniclereport.
Assessments
It is considered a paper of record for the United States, along with The Washington Post.
Reliability: 47.50 out of 64 (32+ is “generally good”)
Bias: -4.01 (9.5% left-leaning bias)
NewsGuard (as of January 2020)
Approximate score: 100
Standards failed: None
Anti-transgender coverage crisis
Decades of anti-transgender coverage culminated in a newsroom revolt in 2023:
According to Times sources, there used to be open Slack channels where staff could discuss any issues they had with coverage, and they freely voiced objections at all-hands meetings with the masthead editors. But now, with the advent of virtual meetings, management doesn’t pick the uncomfortable questions during Q&A.
And, that employee said, there are still no out trans reporters on staff at the paper.
Mark Bowden, Ta-Nehisi Coates, James Fallows, Franklin Foer, Hanna Rosin, Graeme Wood
Senior Editors
Ross Andersen, Yoni Appelbaum, David Barber (Poetry), Ronald Brownstein, Krishnadev Calamur, C. Michael Curtis (Fiction), Ellen Cushing, Richard Florida, Caitlin Frazier, David Frum, Kathy Gilsinan, James Hamblin, Kate Julian, Jane Yong Kim, Corby Kummer, Christopher Orr, Christi Parsons, Yvonne Rolzhausen, Rebecca J. Rosen, Adam Serwer, John Swansburg, Alan Taylor, Derek Thompson, Lauren N. Williams, Gillian B. Whit
Washington Editor at Large; Editor, AtlanticLIVE Steve Clemons
Staff Writers Russell Berman, Natasha Bertrand, McKay Coppins, Rachel Donadio, Ashley Fetters, Conor Friedersdorf, Uri Friedman, Megan Garber, Sophie Gilbert, Hannah Giorgis, David A. Graham, Rosie Gray, Emma Green, Adam Harris, Olga Khazan, Spencer Kornhaber, Alexis C. Madrigal, Robinson Meyer, Vann Newkirk, Elaina Plott, Alana Semuels, David Sims, Alia Wong, Ed Yong, Sarah Zhang
Art Creative Director, The Atlantic: David Somerville Art Director: Paul Spella Associate Art Directors: Katie Martin, Arsh Raziuddin
Production Director: John Kefferstan Associate Director: Jennifer Adams
Executive Staff Manager Kim Jaske
Contributing Editors Marc Ambinder, Peter Beinart, Ian Bogost, Kate Bolick, Bianca Bosker, David Brooks, Andrew Cohen, Eliot A. Cohen, Michelle Cottle, Wayne Curtis, Ross Douthat, Gregg Easterbrook, Garrett Epps, David H. Freedman, Lori Gottlieb, Barbara Bradley Hagerty, Michael Hirschorn, Nancy Jo Iacoi, Wendy Kaminer, Robert D. Kaplan, Mary Louise Kelly, Adam Kirsch, Toby Lester, Sandra Tsing Loh, Annie Lowrey, Thomas Mallon, Charles C. Mann, B.R. Myers, Moisés Naím, P.J. O’Rourke, James Parker, Virginia Postrel, Jonathan Rauch, David Rohde, Jeffrey Rosen, Reihan Salam, Eric Schlosser, Jeffrey Selingo, Ellen Ruppel Shell, Burt Solomon, James Somers, Alison Stewart, Sage Stossel, Jeffrey Tayler, Dominic Tierney, Chuck Todd, Jerry Useem, Robert Vare, Alex Wagner, Emily Yoffe, Fareed Zakaria, Ben Zimmer
Fellows
Sarah Elizabeth Adler, Jordan Bissell, Catherine Daniels, Isabel Fattal, Abdallah Fayyad, Lena Felton, Rachel Gutman, Taylor Hosking, Steven Johnson, Tori Latham, Elijah Lee, Annabelle Timsit, Kevin Volkl
Atlantic Studios Executive Producer & General Manager: Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg
Senior Producer: Ashley Bloom Kenny
Production Manager: Brian Jimenez
Art Director and Animator: Jackie Lay
Producer: Jeremy Raff
Associate Producers: Daniel Lombroso, Nicolas Pollock
Foundation Relations Executive Director: Blake Truitt
Director of Strategy and Planning: Caroline Jarboe
Data & Growth Senior Director: Emilie Harkin
Director, Audience & Data: Harris Cullinan
Manager, Customer Insights: Sera Herold
Operations Coordinator: Carson Trobich
Customer Experience Associate: Anna Hoffman
Fellows: Laith Elkurd, Lora Kelly
Digital Products & Technology Executive Director, Digital Product & Technology: Betsy Cole
Director, Product and Planning: Clarissa Matthews
Senior Product Managers: Anika Gupta, Andrew McGill
Product Design Lead: Dwight Brinkerhoff
Product Designer: Chris Sullivan
Product Design Fellow: Thanh Do
Director, Product Engineering: Josh West
Lead Platform Developer: Frankie Dintino
Senior Platform Developers: Chris Davis, Jason Goldstein
Platform Developers: Obssa Bizuwork, Colin Fleming
Lead Front End Developer: Jeremy Green
Front End Developers: Kevin Mahoney, Joey Nichols, Rekha Tenjarla
Fellows: Meghan Babla, Ana Carano
Associate Director, Digital Analytics: Adam Felder
Analyst, Digital Content: Karen Simpson
Senior Counsel: Marisa M. Johnson
Atlantic Media, Inc. Michael Finnegan, President Emily Lenzner, SVP, Global Communications & External Relations Aretae Wyler, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel
