Michael Shellenberger is an American author, environmental policy analyst, politician, and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Michael D. “Mike” Shellenberger was born in 1971 in Colorado and grew up in Greeley. Shellenberger has three siblings born to parent Nancy and two step-siblings via stepparent, Don (1942–2021). Shellenberger graduated from Greeley Central High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from Earlham College in 1993. In 1996 Shellenberger earned a master’s degree from University of California, Santa Cruz.
Shellenberger is married to sociologist and policy analyst Helen J. Lee Shellenberger (born 1975). They have two children, Joaquin B. Rosman Shellenberger (born 1999) and Kestrel Shellenberger (born 2005). They live in Berkeley, California.
Environmental policy work
In 2003 Shellenberger co-founded the Apollo Alliance, an umbrella organization now called BlueGreen Alliance.
Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus founded market research firm American Environics. They wanted to look at “mistaken assumptions in progressive political movements.”
After working in public relations, Shellenberger co-founded the Breakthrough Institute with Ted Nordhaus in 2003. In 2016, Shellenberger left Breakthrough to found Environmental Progress, focused on keeping American nuclear power plants online.
Shellenberger is a cofounder of anti-drug organization California Peace Coalition and in 2022 founded Shellenberger LLC.
Anti-progressivism
Like many anti-trans people, Shellenberger began as a progressive, then by being critical of progressive political positions, primarily around the environment. Twenty years later, Shellenberger is among many self-described “centrists” whose anti-progressivism has curdled into conservatism.
Shellenberger is author of the 2021 book San Fransicko: How Progressives Ruin Cities.
Political career
Shellenberger ran for California Governor in 2018 as an independent, coming in 9th in the primary with 31,692 votes, or 0.5%.
In 2022 Shellenberger came in third in the primary with 290,286 votes, or 4.1%.
Anti-trans activism
Shellenberger is a heavy X/Twitter user and was hand-picked by Elon Musk in 2022 to review non-public discussions by former Twitter employees and current users. Anti-trans activist Bari Weiss brought Shellenberger on to write for The Free Press in 2022.
In 2023, Shellenberger started being more open and militant about anti-transgender views. Shellenberger has a Substack called Public which frequently platforms anti-transgender views and guests, notably Leighton Woodhouse, Mia Hughes, and Alex Gutentag. Most of the regular contributors were associated with Shellenberger’s previous project Environmental Progress.
Shellenberger, Michael (December 10, 2022). The Twitter Files, Part 4 https://twitter.com/shellenberger/status/1601720455005511680
Shellenberger, Michael (November 11, 2021). Why Wokeism Is A Religion.Public https://public.substack.com/p/why-wokeism-is-a-religion
Shellenberger, Michael (March 20, 2013). The Ecology of Obesity. The Breakthrough Institute https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/food-agriculture-environment/the-ecology-of-obesity
Jeremy W. Peters is an American author and New York Times employee who contributes to and vigorously defends their anti-transgender coverage.
Peters and Adam Nagourney also claim there is a “medical disagreement” about trans healthcare. In actuality, there is clear medical consensus on best practices which is opposed by a conservative fringe minority.
Background
Jeremy Warren Peters was born on January 25, 1980. Peters earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Michigan in 2002, then worked as a freelance writer. Peters wrote for The Virgin Islands Daily News before joining the Times Detroit bureau, followed by the Albany bureau. While at Albany, Peters helped cover the Eliot Spitzer sex scandal.
In 2010 Bruce Headlam announced Peters would take over the publishing beat, covering both newspapers and magazines.
Peters’ book Insurgency came out in 2017. Peters also appears in the 2018 documentary series The Fourth Estate.
Peters is in a relationship with dermatologist Brendan Camp.
2023 attack on News Guild of New York
After the union representing Times journalists noted the profound anti-trans discrimination and hostile workplace created by Carolyn Ryan, Peters attacked union leadership, drafting the letter below and gathering signatures from colleagues.
Dear Susan,
We are writing to you privately in response to your February 17th letter, which we were surprised to see.
Like you, we support the right to a non-hostile workplace where everyone is respected and supported. We believe The New York Times should never engage in biased or discriminatory practices of any kind. We all strive to be part of a truly diverse news organization where everyone is treated fairly. We welcome robust and respectful critical feedback from colleagues, either in direct conversation or through internal Times channels.
But your letter appears to suggest a fundamental misunderstanding of our responsibilities as journalists. Regretfully, our own union leadership now seems determined to undermine the ethical and professional protections that we depend on to guard the independence and integrity of our journalism.
Factual, accurate journalism that is written, edited, and published in accordance with Times standards does not create a hostile workplace.
Every day, partisan actors seek to influence, attack, or discredit our work. We accept that. But what we don’t accept is what the Guild appears to be endorsing: A workplace in which any opinion or disagreement about Times coverage can be recast as a matter of “workplace conditions.” Our duty is to be independent. We pursue the facts wherever they may lead. We are journalists, not activists. That line should be clear.
Debates over fairness and accuracy are perfectly reasonable. We understand and respect that the Guild has an absolute duty to offer representation to members when they are subject to discipline by management. But we do not think it is the role of our union to be engaged in – and taking sides in – public debates over internal editorial decisions.
Our hope is that the coming days will bring more constructive internal dialogue among Times employees and with Guild leadership that can help unify and improve our news organization. And we ask that our union work to advance, not erode, our journalistic independence.
Sincerely,
Reed Abelson Maria Abi-Habib Peter Baker Emily Bazelon Brooks Barnes Julian Barnes Susan Beachy Jack Begg Ginia Bellafante Walt Bogdanich Alan Blinder Kellan Browning Russ Buettner David Chen Nicholas Confessore Rob Copeland Reid Epstein Elizabeth Dias Harvey Dickson Susan Dominus Joe Drape Jesse Drucker Sydney Ember Maureen Farrell Matt Flegenheimer Ellen Gabler Trip Gabriel Robert Gebeloff Adam Goldman Ruth Graham Michael Grynbaum Danny Hakim Anemona Hartocollis Virginia Hughes Sharon LaFraniere Joshua Katz Clifford Krauss Nicholas Kulish Steven Lee Myers Lisa Lerer Sarah Lyall Veronica Majerol Jonathan Mahler Sapna Maheshwari Apoorva Mandavilli Mark Mazzetti Mike McIntire Jennifer Medina Phyllis Messinger Rebecca O’Brien Dennis Overbye Ken Paul Michael Paulson Ivan Penn Jeremy Peters Michael Powell William Rashbaum Rebecca Robbins Matthew Rosenberg Katie Rosman Michael Rothfeld Jim Rutenberg Margot Sanger-Katz Charlie Savage Stephanie Saul Jennifer Schuessler Kim Severson Jessica Silver-Greenberg Jeff Sommer Nicole Sperling Emily Steel Katie Thomas Marcela Valdes Ken Vogel Nancy Wartik Mark Walker Ben Weiser Elizabeth Williamson Michael Wilson Michael Wines David Yaffe-Bellany Kate Zernike
2026 Dr. Oz meeting story
In March 2026, Peters reported on a meeting where Mehmet Öz, the Trump Administration head of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, summoned representatives of major medical societies to discuss their positions on what Öz called “sex-rejecting” healthcare for trans people. Zhenya Abbruzzese of anti-trans hate group Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine was also invited. Abbruzzese and Kathleen McDeavitt, who also attended, are both authors of the Trump Administration’s 2025 US HHS report attacking trans healthcare for minors.
In the comments section, Peters espoused the belief that prominent medical journals have a “lack of viewpoints” [emphasis and links added below]:
@Aaron The integrity of academic journals is a major issue here. It’s not something specific to gender medicine, though certainly the lack of viewpoints published on the subject hasn’t helped. The problems here are twofold. First, there’s the one-sidedness of most of the published articles. It’s much easier to get something published in JAMA or the New England Journal of Medicine if it’s supportive of gender-affirming care. Second, there have been some major problems with some of the studies published on this subject. In some cases, bad outcomes for patients were overlooked. That’s what the evidence reviews have found. And that doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence from the public.
@David Bruce If there’s one area of agreement between the health professionals who support limiting access to medical treatments and those who don’t, it’s that they both believe the political interference has been harmful. Medicine is definitely an area where an either/or binary doesn’t usually work. And what I’ve found in my reporting is the same thing Hilary Cass, the noted British pediatrician, found when she conducted a review of gender medicine for the NHS. Evidence for and against these procedures is often misrepresented and cherry picked. So what’s a parent who doesn’t know how to read academic journals supposed to do?
@Emily I mostly write about issues of free speech and censorship. And that’s how I came to this topic initially, after hearing stories about doctors who have raised questions like Dr. McDeavitt has only to be shouted down. I think that’s changing. But Trump’s aggressive undermining of transgender rights hasn’t made this easier because many people now associate the policy with politics. And if there is disagreement on the policy specifics, medical societies all agree on one thing: they don’t want politicians setting guidelines for care.
@Linda F I hear this sentiment all the time from medical professionals, psychologists and parents. One psychologist I spoke to recently, who is herself transgender [probably Erica Anderson], told me the challenge with young patients is to give them the care they need, not the care they ask for. Then there’s the separate but related issue of irreversibility. How do you explain to a teenager that the medical decision they are making now will be at least partially permanent and could mean they can’t have kids of their own in 15 years?
@BiffNYC This is one of the biggest gaps in the research. Even if some of the problems that evidence reviews have identified were solved, there isn’t strong enough research yet on the long-term impact that puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery has on the mental health of kids who were treated as teenagers. Simply put, not enough time has passed since these treatments became easier to get and more common. Someone who was 12 in 2018, for instance, is only 20 today. So we not only need better studies, we need more time.
Sulzberger, A. G. (October 7, 2015). Our Path Forward (PDF). The New York Times Company. https://nytco-assets.nytimes.com/m/Our-Path-Forward.pdf
Sulzberger, A. G. (January 1, 2018). A Note from Our New Publisher. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/01/opinion/Arthur-Gregg-Sulzberger-The-New-York-Times.html
The Hill is an American media organization. Their coverage of trans issues is generally neutral to negative.
Background
The Hill was formed as a newspaper in 1994 by Jerry Finkelstein and Martin Tolchin. Major shareholders included Gary L. Ackerman. In 2012, James A. Finkelstein assumed control of the organization.
Contributors
A number of contributors have written anti-trans pieces, including:
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 advisor to Dick Cheney. It was created as a “conservative answer to The Huffington Post.” Foster Friess provided $3 million in startup funding. In June 2020, Carlson was bought out by Patel and left the project.
In July 2010 Daily Caller published leaked emails from JournoList, a 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:
Before becoming an anti-trans activist, Dansky worked for the ACLU and other groups that advocated for civil rights and prisoner rights. Dansky has witten for Spiked, Reality’s Last Stand, and The Hill and has worked with right-wing groups, including Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society.
Background
Kara Patrice Dansky was born March 17, 1972. Dansky earned a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1994 and a law degree from University of Pennsylvania Law School. According to a self-supplied biography, Dansky has been:
Founder and Managing Director of One Thousand Arms.
Special Advisor to the Director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice
Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Executive Director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center
Public defender and federal law clerk at the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico
Staff attorney at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Senior Counsel with the ACLU Center for Justice
Dansky is a member of the bar for the District of Columbia and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
In 2026, Dansky published a post with a recommended template for contacting people in the media about trans coverage. Dansky recommended the following anti-trans activists:
response to Currah, Paisley (December 15, 2025). The Anti-Trans Playbook.New York Review https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2025/12/18/the-anti-trans-playbook-paisley-currah/
The Nation is an American progressive media organization. Their coverage of transgender topics is generally fair and accurate.
The Nation is notable for publishing trans and gender diverse writers, including S. Baum, Gillian Branstetter, Stephanie Burt, Jack Halberstam, Imara Jones, Shannon Price Minter, Chase Strangio, Susan Stryker, Meredith Talusan, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Jos Truitt, and Raquel Willis.
In 2015, Nation columnist Katha Pollitt wrote two pieces that expressed support and sympathy for “gender critical” feminists, discussed below.
Background
The magazine was flounded in 1865, shortly after the end of the American Civil War. It was founded in New York City by abolitionists and reform-minded intellectuals who wanted a serious journal of politics and culture. The founding editor was Edwin Lawrence Godkin, an Irish-born journalist. The early issues focused heavily on Reconstruction politics, economic policy, and literary criticism. During the late 1860s and 1870s, the magazine gained a reputation for detailed book reviews and commentary on national politics. In 1881, Godkin left the magazine to become editor of the New York Evening Post. Control of The Nation passed to Wendell Phillips Garrison, who served as editor from 1881 to 1906.
In 1885, the magazine was purchased by the Evening Post Company. In 1918, the magazine was sold to a group led by Oswald Garrison Villard, the grandson of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Villard became publisher and remained closely associated with the magazine until the 1930s. It merged with another progressive weekly in 1937. Freda Kirchwey served as editor from 1937 to 1955, guiding the publication through World War II and the early Cold War. In 1955, Carey McWilliams became editor and led the magazine until 1975. Following financial instability during the 1960s and early 1970s, new ownership reorganized it in 1977 under the Nation Company. Victor Navasky became editor in 1978 and served until 1995, later remaining publisher until 2005. Katrina vanden Heuvel became editor in 1995 and publisher in 2005.
By the early 21st century, The Nation had expanded into digital publishing while continuing its weekly print schedule.’
Katha Pollitt
Katha Pollitt is a Nation columnist who has expressed support and sympathy for “gender critical” feminists. Pollitt began contributing to The Nation in 1980. From 1982 to 1984, Pollitt was literary editor. Pollitt’s biweekly column “Subject to Debate” started in 1995 and became one of the magazine’s signature opinion columns.
Starting around 2010, Pollitt ran a trans-exclusionary journalism listserv. In 2018, journalist Harron Walker was provided listserv messages and reported on how these prominent media figures discussed trans topics in private. In 2019, Pollitt accidentally copied Nation contributor David M. Perry on an email criticizing those who felt anti-trans activist Jesse Singal should be removed from Pollitt’s listserv.
In 2015, Pollitt published a column titled “Who Has Abortions?” about the shift to inclusive language in the abortion rights movement. Pollitt argued, “Once you start talking about “people,” not “women,” you lose what abortion means historically, symbolically and socially.” Pollitt added:
I’m going to argue here that removing “women” from the language of abortion is a mistake. We can, and should, support trans men and other gender-non-conforming people. But we can do that without rendering invisible half of humanity and 99.999 percent of those who get pregnant.
Here, Pollitt repeats the anti-trans data artifact promoted by Kenneth Zucker and others that claimed only 1 in 100,000 people are trans men. There are more than 1,000 times more transmasculine people than that deliberate undercount.
The column sparked considerable controversy, and The Nation published two reader responses, as well as Pollitt’s response to the criticisms.
Also in 2015, Pollitt expressed concern about anti-trans activists like Germaine Greer and Julie Bindel being disinvited from college speaking engagements.
In 2020, Pollitt was one of the signers of the Harper’s Letter, signed by a disproportionate number of anti-trans activists.
Contributors
Contributors who have covered trans topics include:
Mystal, Elie (February 6, 2026). Is Samuel Alito Preparing to Disrobe?The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/newsletter-samuel-alito-retiring/
Boykoff, Jules; Zirin, Dave (August 5, 2024). We Must Defend Imane Khelif.The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/society/imane-khelif-olympics-paris-boxing-transphobia/
Berkshire, Jennifer C.; Schneider, Jack (December 15, 2023). Moms for Liberty Isn’t Going Anywhere.The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/society/moms-for-liberty-public-schools/
Huber, Sam (November 20, 2023). How Gender Is Policed in America.The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/paisley-currah-transgender-history/
Littlefield, Amy (August 7, 2023). The Real Agenda of Moms for Liberty.The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/society/moms-for-liberty-philadelphia/
de la Cretaz, Frankie (May 12, 2023). How Women’s Swimming Got So Transphobic.The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/society/womens-swimming-transphobia-lia-thomas/
Arroyo, Andrea (April 13, 2023). Transgender Rights Are Human Rights.The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/transgender-rights-are-human-rights/
Lewis, Sophie (May 20, 2021). A Portrait of Cis-Trans Solidarit.The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/torrey-peters-detransition-baby-review/
Geffen, Sasha (October 9, 2019). The Revolutionary Joy of Trans Life.The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/society/lou-sullivan-we-both-laughed-in-pleasure-review/
Douglas, Emily and The Nation (June 27, 2019). What We All Owe to Gay Liberation.The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/stonewall-50-lgbtq-queer/
Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta (June 26, 2019). Gay Pride Doesn’t Mean Gay Liberation.The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/lgbtq-liberation-nigel-shelby-stonewall/
Zirin, Dave (March 19, 2019). The Attack on Trans Athletes.The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/society/trans-athletes-attack-podcast/
Zirin, Dave (March 5, 2019). Transphobia’s New Target Is the World of Sports.The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/trans-runner-daily-caller-terry-miller-andraya-yearwood-martina-navratilova/
Grandin, Greg; Madar. Chase (January 17, 2017). Chelsea Manning Will Be Free!The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/chelsea-manning-will-be-free/
De, Nikhilesh; StudentNation (March 4, 2015). Students Make the Case for Gender Fluidity.The Nation https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/students-make-case-gender-fluidity/
Jennifer Finney Boylan is an American author, professor, and activist. Boylan has written several memoirs and novels and has frequently appeared in the media to discuss trans issues.
Notable work involving gender and media includes:
The memoir She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders (2003)
Jennifer Finney “Jenny” Boylan was born June 22, 1958 in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Boylan earned a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University in 1980, then earned a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1986. Boylan was a professor at Colby College from 1988 to 2014, then took an appointment at Barnard College. Several of Boylan’s early books were published prior to beginning transition in 2000. Boylan wrote an opinion column for the New York Times from 2007 to 2022 among other writing. Boylan has published opinion pieces in the Washington Post since 2014, increasing the frequency after leaving the New York Times.
In 1988 Boylan married Deirdre Finney Boylan (born 1960). They have two children, Sean (born 1996), and Zaira (born 1994), who is also trans.
Boylan served on the board of GLAAD and has held other roles at organizations benefiting sex and gender minorities. Boylan has appeared on Oprah and the Caitlyn Jenner reality show I Am Cait.
In 2023, Boylan was named President of PEN America.
Anti-drag factionalism
Boylan was a key figure with Christina Kahrl in the 2014 transbian attacks led by Parker Molloy that were critical of drag artists and the offensive language some of them use. This strain of respectability politics reached a boiling point when the three of them combined their ongoing anti-drag and anti-slur crusades to extract an apology from RuPaul and RuPaul’s Drag Race for a transphobic segment that was ultimately pulled. They bragged about taking over GLAAD, an organization built by the entire community that had previously helped settle intra-community disputes out of the public eye. In a mutually beneficial piece of logrolling, Boylan told Molloy:
“This is, to coin a phrase, not your father’s GLAAD, and this is not the work that was being done a decade ago. One reason why I think we’ve been able to make a little progress is that GLAAD is now largely run by trans people. We occupy positions from staff to volunteers to the board of directors, including its national co-chair, which is me. These are our lives we are talking about; the people demeaned by incidents like this one are the men and women who work here. And other cis staff members have been working for trans rights for years and years now. I am proud of the board and staff for their passion.”
Even after being presented with extensive evidence of Parker Molloy’s abuse and slurs toward other trans people, Boylan remained one of Molloy’s staunchest supporters. In exchange, Molloy would write publicity pieces for Boylan and launder them through Advocate.com until being suspended and ultimately resigning.
2020 Harper’s Letter
Boylan was a signatory on the 2020 “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” in Harper’s Magazine. That open letter was criticized for the high percentage of “gender critical” people in the media, most notably anti-trans extremist J.K. Rowling. Boylan had been in awe of Rowling to the point that in 2010 Boylan created a children’s fantasy series called Falcon Quinn that shared remarkable similarities with Rowling’s Harry Potter franchise.
Boylan asked to be taken off the Harper’s Letter, claiming ignorance of the other signatories, while trans economist Deirdre McCloskey remained a signatory.
Books
Remind Me to Murder You Later (1988)
The Planets (1991)
The Constellations: A Novel (1994)
Getting In (1998)
She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders (2003)
I’m Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted: A Memoir (2008)
Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror (2010)
Falcon Quinn and the Crimson Vapor (2011)
Stuck in the Middle with You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders (2013)
Foreword fo Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community (2014)
You Are You (2015)
Falcon Quinn and the Bullies of Greenblud (2016)
Long Black Veil (2017)
Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs (2020)
Mad Honey: A Novel (2022) [with Jodi Picoult]
Cleavage: Men, Women, and the Space Between Us (2025)
James, Andrea (July 24, 2014). The GLAAD Board’s “Tranny” Trouble: How Its Trans Takeover Is Reshaping LGBT Politics. Queerty https://www.queerty.com/the-glaad-boards-tranny-trouble-how-its-trans-takeover-is-reshaping-lgbt-politics-20140724 [archive]
Boylan, Jennifer Finney (February 5, 2025). On cleavage: Mind the gap.The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/02/05/cleavage-men-women-transgender-marriage-love/
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
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/
J.K. Rowling is a British author and the most prominent anti-transgender activist in the world. Rowling has used wealth and influence to cause tremendous harm to the trans rights movement worldwide, and particularly in the United Kingdom.
opposing legal recognition on the basis of gender identity and expression
opposing value-neutral and inclusive scientific language about human anatomy and body functions
supporting the “LGB erasure” conspiracy theory, particularly the conspiracy that gender-affirming care is “conversion therapy” on lesbian, gay, and bisexual minors
opposing those who note Rowling is transphobic or a TERF, often threatening legal action against those who do
opposing what Rowling calls the “new trans activism”
Background
Joanne “Jo” Rowling was born on July 31, 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England. Rowling’s parents both served in the British Navy before marrying. Rowling has a younger sibling Dianne. Rowling earned a bachelor’s degree from Exeter in 1987.
Rowling came up with the idea for the Harry Potter series in 1990. After holding several unfulfilling jobs, Rowling moved to Portugal to teach English. There, Rowling met journalist Jorge Arantes, and they married in 1992. They had a child Jessica in 1993, but Rowling left because the relationship was abusive. They divorced in 1995. Rowling earned a teaching certificate in 1996 and began teaching.
The first Harry Potter book was published in 1997. Since publication of the final book in 2007, the series has amassed a huge fandom for the franchise, including movie series, plays, video games, amusement park tie-ins, and extensive merchandizing. Rowling is one of the most successful authors in the history of publishing.
In 2001 Rowling married physician Neil Murray and purchased Killiechassie House, a Scottish estate. They have two children: David (born 2003) and Mackenzie (born 2005).
Rowling subsequently wrote additional children’s books and adult novels, including some under the pen name Robert Galbraith.
Anti-transgender activism
After a series of increasingly anti-transgender statements starting in 2019 with a tweet in support of anti-trans activist Maya Forstater. In 2022 Rowling came out against the proposed Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. As Rowling’s anti-trans views became more strident, Rowling began openly supporting anti-transgender extremists in the UK and beyond.
Rowling also created Beira’s Place, a privately funded trans-exclusionary help center for cisgender women who have experienced sexual assault or domestic violence. Rowling was enraged that other local resources offered help to trans people who had been sexually assaulted. Rowling was also enraged that the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre’s CEO Mridul Wadhwa is transgender. In a 2021 interview, Wadhwa said “this is about who has power and who doesn’t,” adding:
Sexual violence happens to bigoted people as well. And so, you know, it is not discerning crime. But these spaces are also for you. But if you bring unacceptable beliefs that are discriminatory in nature, we will begin to work with you on your journey of recovery from trauma. But please also expect to be challenged on your prejudices, because how can you heal from trauma and build a new relationship with your trauma, because you can’t forget, and you can’t go back to life before traumatic incident or traumatic incidents. And some of us never, ever had a life before traumatic incidents. But if you have to reframe your trauma, I think it is important as part of that reframing, having a more positive relationship with it, where it becomes a story that empowers you and allows you to go and do other more beautiful things with your life, you also have to rethink your relationship with prejudice. Otherwise, you can’t really, in my view, recover from trauma and I think that’s a very important message that I am often discussing with my colleagues that in various places.
2024 comments on Nazi persecution of trans people (2024)
On March 13, 2024, X user jaytuberr posted in a thread on trans healthcare, “The Nazis burnt books on trans healthcare and research, why are you so desperate to uphold their ideology around gender?” Rowling then responded, “How did you type this out and press send without thinking ‘I should maybe check my source for this, because it might’ve been a fever dream’?” Many people interpreted Rowling’s post as denial of the 1933 Nazi looting and burning of Magnus Hirschfeld’s clinical books and research on trans people and sexual minorities. Rowling stated in part: “I’m familiar with such activists’ assertions that transgender people have been uniquely persecuted and oppressed throughout history, but claims that trans people were ‘the first targets’ of the Nazis – a claim I refuted on X, and which led to these accusations – and that I ‘uphold [Nazi] ideology around gender’ is a new low.”
Critics
Rowling’s critics include numerous LGBT rights organizations, authors, actors who have appeared in filmed versions of Rowling’s books, and the vast majority of the trans community.
Thorpe, Vanessa (14 June 2020). JK Rowling: from magic to the heart of a Twitter storm. The Observer. Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020. Arrayed on Rowling’s side are some of the veteran voices of feminism, including the radical Julie Bindel, who spoke out in support this weekend: “Her political position is nothing to do with transgender issues. She has always been a feminist and she has inspired generations of young women and men to look into issues of sex-based discrimination,” she told the Observer.
JK Rowling backs protest over Scottish gender bill. BBC News. 6 October 2022. Retrieved 28 December 2022. Author JK Rowling has supported a protest rally by wearing a T-shirt calling Scotland’s first minister a “destroyer of women’s rights”.
Schwirblat, Tatiana; Freberg, Karen; Freberg, Laura (2022). Chapter 21: Cancel culture: a career vulture amongst influencers on social media. In Lipschultz, Jeremy Harris; Freberg, Karen; Luttrell, Regina (eds.). The Emerald Handbook of Computer-Mediated Communication and Social Media. Emerald Publishing Limited. doi:10.1108/978-1-80071-597-420221021