The Stranger is an alternative newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. The publication is generally progressive politically, with some issues around anti-trans writing by Dan Savage, Alice Dreger, and Katie Herzog.
Background
Founded in 1991 as a weekly print publication supported by coupon ads, it switched to a biweekly magazine format in 2017. It suspended print operations in 2020, then resumed them in 2023. In 2024, the paper was sold to Noisy Creek.
Transgender coverage
Since its founding, The Stranger has published a sex column by Dan Savage called Savage Love. Over the years, Savage has published a number of columns about trans and gender diverse people that have been criticized. In addition to work like the It Gets Better project that has helped some in the community, Savage has a long history of supporting and defending sexologists and journalists who have also been accused of anti-trans bias.
In 2011, The Queer Issue edited by Christopher Frizzelle and Savage included a piece by Alice Dreger, who has long voiced opposition to the affirmative model of care for trans and gender diverse youth, especially any kind of medical options:
The great majority of young children who declare they are a gender that doesn’t match their birth sex grow out of the mismatch. […]
But somehow if we wrap these major interventions around gender identity, we’re supposed to believe they are not that big a deal in terms of planning for a child’s future? And the clinician who tries to get a gender dysphoric kid to learn to like her or his innate body really is a Nazi? Not buying it. […]
I am also sick and tired of trans-rights advocates acting like a certain current-day endocrinologist is ever-so-progressive because he essentially starts prepping genderqueer kids for surgery the moment they are presented by their distraught parents. Reminds me a little too much of Iran, you know?
The Stranger also employed Katie Herzog, whose 2017 article on “detransition” was sourced from a group of anti-transgender people associated with the “ex-trans movement.” Seven years later, The Stranger finally updated that story to note that key source Ky Schevers has disavowed the views made in the piece.
References
Hiruko, Ashley (July 29, 2024). The Stranger newspaper sold to former state legislator Brady Walkinshaw. KUOW https://www.kuow.org/stories/the-stranger-newspaper-sold-to-former-state-legislator-brady-walkinshaw
Eckert, AJ; McLamore, Quinnehtukqut May 14, 2023). Detransition, Retransition, and What Everyone Gets Wrong. Science-Based Medicine https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/detransition-retransition-and-what-everyone-gets-wrong/
Owen, Greg (November 1, 2022,). Darling of the ādetransitionā movement comes out again as transgender. LGBTQ Nation https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/11/darling-detransition-movement-comes-transgender/
Schevers, Ky (March 6, 2022). Ky Schever’s experience with ideologically driven detransition. Trans Safety Network https://transsafety.network/posts/ky-schevers-life-in-detransition/
Leveille, Lee (July 5, 2021). The Mechanisms of TAnon: Where it Came From. Health Liberation Now! https://healthliberationnow.com/2021/07/05/the-mechanisms-of-tanon-where-it-came-from/
Schevers, Ky (March 25, 2021). The Reality Behind the Story I Told: What My Life was Like When I was Interviewed for the Stranger. Reclaiming Trans https://reclaimingtrans.com/2021/03/25/the-reality-behind-the-story-i-told-what-my-life-was-like-when-i-was-interviewed-for-the-stranger/
Doyle, Jude Ellison S. (March 24, 2021). Whatās So Scary About Detransitioning? Medium https://gen.medium.com/whats-so-scary-about-detransitioning-a8340daf3132
Urquhart, Evan (February 1, 2021). An āEx-Detransitionerā Disavows the Anti-Trans Movement She Helped Spark. Slate https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/02/detransition-movement-star-ex-gay-explained.html
Schevers, Ky (December 22, 2020). Detransition as Conversion Therapy: A Survivor Speaks Out. An Injustice! https://aninjusticemag.com/detransition-as-conversion-therapy-a-survivor-speaks-out-7abd4a9782fa
Selected writing in The Stranger
Schevers, Ky (June 24, 2024). The Reality Behind the Story I Told The Stranger. The Stranger https://www.thestranger.com/queer-issue-2024/2024/06/05/79545098/the-reality-behind-the-story-i-told-the-stranger
Wood, Natalie (June 20, 2018). What Happens After the Person You Married Tells You They’re Transgender. The Stranger https://www.thestranger.com/queer-issue-2018/2018/06/20/27820946/what-happens-after-the-person-you-married-tells-you-theyre-transgender
Herzog, Katie (July 3, 2017). A Response to the Uproar Over My Piece, āThe Detransitioners.ā The Stranger https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/07/03/25262759/a-response-to-the-uproar-over-my-piece-the-detransitioners
Herzog, Katie (June 28, 2017). The Detransitioners: They Were Transgender, Until They Werenāt. The Stranger. https://www.thestranger.com/features/2017/06/28/25252342/the-detransitioners-they-were-transgender-until-they-werent
Savage, Dan (June 7, 2014). About That Hate Crime I Committed at University of Chicago. The Stranger https://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2014/06/07/about-that-hate-crime-i-committed-at-university-of-chicago
Dreger, Alice (2011). Trans Advocates (At Least Where Genderqueer Kids Are Concerned). The Stranger https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/trans-advocates/Content?oid=8743338
Savage, Dan (August 12, 2010). Golden Oldie. The Stranger https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=4642012
Savage, Dan (August 12, 2010). Bad Tranny. The Stranger https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=13054
Savage, Dan (March 26, 2009). Deep Thought. The Stranger https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=1192438
Resources
The Stranger (thestranger.com)
Wikipedfia (en.wikipedia.org)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
- The Stranger
- linkedin.com/company/the-stranger/
Facebook (facebook.com)
X/Twiiter (x.com)
Instagram (instagram.com)
YouTube (youtube.com)
Bluesky (bsky.app)