Washington Post has covered trans issues with several important initiatives, including the 2023 KFF/The Washington Post Trans Survey.
In December 2024, the Post signaled a significant shift from objectivity that reflected relentless laundering of anti-trans extremism into mainstream media. The Editorial Board presented gender-affirming care for minors as a controversy where “the medical questions have not been properly resolved,” citing “scientists’ failure to study these treatments slowly and systematically.”
Leadership
Sally Buzbee, Executive Editor
Krissah Thompson, Managing Editor
Justin Bank, Managing Editor
Barbara Vobejda, Managing Editor
Monica Norton, Deputy Managing Editor
Mark W. Smith, Deputy Managing Editor
Scott Vance, Deputy Managing Editor
Liz Seymour, Deputy Managing Editor (Newsroom operations, standards and planning)
Ann Gerhart, Senior Visual Enterprise Editor
Erika Allen, Head of Audience Strategy and Growth
Coleen O’Lear, Head of Curation and Platforms
Carla Broyles, Senior Career Development Editor
Sommer Mathis, Senior Recruiting Editor
Terrell Mizell, Senior Recruiting Consultant
Matea Gold, National Editor
Phil Rucker, Deputy National Editor
Douglas Jehl, Foreign Editor
Jennifer Amur, Deputy Foreign Editor
Mike Semel, Local Editor
Maria Glod, Deputy Local Editor
Ben Williams, Features Editor
Hank Stuever, Deputy Features Editor
Tara Parker-Pope, Wellness Editor
Anjuman Ali, Deputy Wellness Editor
Lori Montgomery, Business Editor
Damian Paletta, Deputy Business Editor
Christina Passariello, Deputy Business Editor
Jeff Leen, Investigations Editor
David Fallis, Deputy Investigations Editor
Eric Rich, Deputy Investigations Editor
Jason Murray, Sports Editor
Matthew Rennie, Deputy Sports Editor
Zachary Goldfarb, Climate and Environment Editor
Juliet Eilperin, Deputy Climate and Environment Editor
Meghan Hoyer, Data Reporting Director
Anu Narayanswamy, Deputy Data Editor
Micah Gelman, Director of Editorial Video
David Bruns, Executive Producer
Lauren Saks, Executive Producer
MaryAnne Golon, Photography Director
Robert Miller, Deputy Photography Director
Dudley Brooks, Deputy Photography Director
Sandra Stevenson, Deputy Photography Director
Courtney Rukan, Multiplatform Editing Chief
Brian Cleveland, Deputy Multiplatform Editor
Nora Simon, Deputy News Service Editor
Kenisha Malcolm, Curation Desk Editor
Anne Bartlett, Live Editing Chief
Charity Brown, Deputy Newsroom Product Director
Keith McMillan, General Assignment Editor
Herman Wong, Deputy General Assignment Editor
Assessments
Statista
“The Washington Post’s credibility fared relatively well in 2022, with a survey revealing that 48 percent of respondents believed the publication to be very or somewhat credible. The Washington Post’s credibility rating was slightly lower than that of The New York Times, and the paper also lost out to The Wall Street Journal in this regard.”
In December 2024, the Post signaled a significant shift that reflected relentless laundering of anti-trans extremism into mainstream media.
Without citing any recent research finding low regret rates or citing any countries that have reaffirmed the benefits of gender affirming care for minors, the editorial notes “at least some patients who transitioned later experience regret and suffer the fate the treatments were supposed to avoid: a body that doesn’t match their gender identity.”
Signaling their desire to have a politically-appointed non-expert review similar to the UK’s disastrous Cass Review, the Post urged a US non-expert review “overseen by scientists who are not gender medicine practitioners.”
They cited the following:
the British Cass Review by anti-trans pediatrician Hilary Cass and the subsequent ban of puberty blockers for trans minors (but not cis minors)
the report by the Norwegian Healthcare Investigation Board (UKOM) criticizing gender affirming care as “experimental”
the report by Swedish anti-trans activist Mikael Landén et al criticizing gender affirming care as “experimental”
a paper by Carmichael et al, ignoring that overall patient experience was positive, focusing instead on psychological function, which The Post characterized as “lackluster results”
anti-trans activist Jesse Singal’s blog post critical of a New England Journal of Medicinepaper on psychosocial functioning, in which The Post claimed NEJM “massaged the results”
In 2025, the Trump Administration’s Department of Health & Human Services published a report designed to give cover for banning transgender healthcare for minors. The Post’s Editorial Board described it as “a careful, thorough and definitely skeptical tour through the subject,” adding that “it makes a legitimate case for caution that policymakers need to wrestle with.”
The authors were
Mary Duenwald
Robert Gebelhoff
James Hohmann
Megan McArdle
Eduardo Porter
Keith B. Richburg
David Shipley, Opinion Editor
Stephen Stromberg, Deputy Opinion Editor
References
Wilchins, Riki (December 20, 2024). The Anti-Care Playbook.Assigned Media https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/washington-post-anti-care-playbook
Editorial board (December 15, 2024). Look to science, not law, for real answers on youth gender medicine.Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/12/15/skrmetti-case-youth-transition-trans-supreme-court/ alt title: Opinion | Skrmetti court case won’t settle questions about youth gender medicine.
“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
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
Joesph Henry Press an imprint of The National Academies Press www.jhpress.org • 888-624-7651
Response
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, he 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.
References
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
Out is an American media organization for sex and gender minorities founded in 1992. Below are some of the matters relevant to this project.
In March 2003, Out ran a book review by Duncan Osborne. The parts in bold were used in promotional material by the published Joseph Henry Press. The review is based on a preview copy where the subtitle had not yet been altered The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism.
J. Michael Bailey’s The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Psychology of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism is recommended reading for anyone interested in the study of gender identity and sexual orientation. Bailey, an associate professor of psychology at Northwestern University, focuses exclusively on men, and he covers a broad spectrum—gay men, male-to-female transsexuals, and men who identify as neither gay nor transgendered but engage in behaviors that are typically associated with those who do. Bailey has produced a thoughtful book that cites recent scientific studies on homosexuality and transsexuality. It is written, however, in a style that makes it easily accessible to any reader.
Below is an example of how the excerpted review appeared in The Advocateon June 10, 2003.
Below is a classified ad that ran in early 2003 in many gay publications, citing the review above:
References
Osborne D (March 2003). [Review] The Man Who Would Be Queen. Out. http://www.out.com/bookreviews2.asp?id=2598 [archive]
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 what The Transphobia Project hopes to reveal.
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
Giorgis, Hannah (July 13, 2020). A Deeply Provincial View of Free Speech.The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/07/harpers-letter-free-speech/614080/
Wikipedia is a user-edited encyclopedia. The topics around sex, gender, and sexuality are among the most contentious on the site, and the community of editors has taken drastic steps to control these topics.
Jacqueline M. Welch is an American executive who has been responsible for the hostile workplace environment and lack of diversity at the New York Times newsroom since 2021.
No transgender journalist has appeared on the New York Times masthead since its founding in 1851, over 170 years of operation. In 2023 the San Francisco Chronicle cited an employee who said the Times has no trans reporters.
Background
Jacqueline M. “Jacqui” Welch (born ~1970) is a first-generation American born to working-class immigrant parents. Welch earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Syracuse University in 1991 and a master’s degree in Human Resources Management from The New School in 1994.
Welch started in 1991 at Lord & Taylor, then held roles at WestRock, Accenture, Rock-Tenn, and Willis Towers Watson. From 2008 to 2013 Welch held HR executive roles at Turner Broadcasting System. After working at Freddie Mac from 2016 to 2021, Welch joined the Times as Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer.
Their journalism is considered center to center-right, and the editorial page is considered right-wing/conservative. The opinion section frequently promotes and platforms major anti-trans voices, including Gerald Posner, J. Michael Bailey, Abigail Shrier, Leor Sapir, and Colin Wright.
Contributors
In 2023, the WSJ significantly increased its anti-transgender coverage.
Leor Sapir and Colin Wright wrote a piece attacking academic publisher Springer after it retracted an unethical paper by J. Michael Bailey in 2023. The previous year, Wright had invoked the “tomboy erasure” conspiracy theory that claims gender diverse cisgender children are being forced to transition as a form of anti-LGB conversion therapy.
Abigail Shrier was allowed to complain about “The Transgender War on Women.”
Joe Barrett covered state recognition of trans identity documents. Jathon Sapsford and Stephanie Armour quoted anti-trans activist Leor Sapir, and Republican politicians Dan Crenshaw and Chris Christie, with rebuttal by Democrat Frank Pallone Jr. Stephanie Armour also covered Medicaid coverage of trans health services.
Laura Kusisto and Louise Radnofsky covered sex-segregated competitive sports. Ben Chapman and Laine Higgins also covered this.
Mariah Timms covered anti-trans developments in Missouri under AG Andrew Bailey.
Lindsay Wise, Simon J. Levien, and Isaac Yu covered Republican attempts to control the reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy of others.
Elizabeth Findell, Adolfo Flores and Peter Champelli covered the Texas ban on trans healthcare.
Mariah Timms and Laura Kusisto covered Tennessee’s ban on trans healthcare for minors.
Talal Ansari covered Zooey Zephyr’s removal from the Montana House floor.
The editorial board opined about “Transgender Patients vs. Religious Doctors: The Franciscan Alliance might be the new Little Sisters of the Poor.”
2023 Endocrine Society attacks
After Roy Eappen and Ian Kingsbury of anti-trans group Do No Harm attacked the Endocrine Society, President Stephen R. Hammes responded with an outline of the medical consensus behind the Endocrine Society’s guidelines.
Hammes was then attacked by a group of anti-trans clinicians in a subsequent letter. The signatories are:
Clin. Prof. William Malone, M.D. Idaho College of Osteopathic MedicineDirector, Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine
Prof. Patrick K. Hunter, M.D. Florida State UniversityPediatrician and bioethicist
Hammes was also criticized by a group of parents that included Kathleen Dooley.
References
Conservative signatories (July 14, 2023). Youth Gender Transition Is Pushed Without Evidence.Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/trans-gender-affirming-care-transition-hormone-surgery-evidence-c1961e27
