Megan Twohey is an American author and anti-transgender activist. Twohey co-wrote a scaremongering New York Times article about healthcare for trans and gender diverse youth titled “They Paused Puberty, but Is There a Cost?” The piece helped spark a newsroom revolt against management during the Times’ 2020s anti-trans coverage crisis.
Background
Megan Twohey was born on October 26, 1976 to John and Mary Jane Twohey.
Mary Jane Twohey handled PR for Northwestern University after transphobic eugenicist J. Michael Bailey arranged a live “fucksaw” demonstration for students.
Megan Twohey graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1994. After graduating from Georgetown University in 1998, Twohey worked at Washington Monthly, then National Journal from 1999 to 2001, then Moscow Times from 2001 to 2002. Twohey joined the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from 2003 to 2007.
Twohey then joined parent John Twohey at Tribune Media’s Chicago Tribune in 2007. From 2012 to 2016, Twohey was with Thomson Reuters, then joined the New York Times in 2016.
Twohey and Jodi Kantor published a 2017 exposĂ© about Harvey Weinstein’s history of sexual abuse and assault that figured prominently into Weinstein’s downfall and ultimate conviction, earning a Pulitzer Prize. Their 2019 book She Said was adapted into a 2022 film of the same name.
Twohey and literary agent Vadim “Jim” Rutman (born ~1975) were married on June 12, 2016 and have one child.
Anti-trans activism
Twohey co-wrote a 2022 New York Times article on puberty blockers for gender diverse youth that culminated in a 2023 newsroom revolt against Times leadership.
The story is about “emerging evidence of potential harm” and the “long-term physical effects and other consequences” of Lupron and other medications that can manage onset of puberty. Any drug carries a risk of side effects, which the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tracks via adverse event reports. FDA approved Lupron for central precocious puberty in 1993. It has since been used for trans and gender diverse youth experiencing unwanted puberty. Doctors have wide latitude to use approved drugs “off label,” including use to delay puberty for trans and gender diverse youth.
Several years earlier, co-author Christina Jewett began reporting on cisgender people who believe puberty blockers which they took as minors led to short- and long-term adverse side effects. Children whose puberty starts at 5 to 8 years old often face social problems, and those capable of pregnancy are at higher risk of unwanted sexual attention and assault. Doctors work with parents to weigh the risks and benefits before getting informed parental consent. As with any medical treatment, some people will be harmed more than they were helped.
Focusing on uncommon side effects and unknown risks is a long-used pretense to restrict or ban contraception and abortion, especially for minors. For more information, see this site’s analysis of “They Paused Puberty, but Is There a Cost?”
The piece was cited as part of a transphobic series by a small group of anti-trans writers within the New York Times. GLAAD stated: “In November 2022, the Times published a story by Megan Twohey and Christina Jewett that got the science of healthcare for trans people so wrong that the WPATH had to write a multi-page tear-down explaining how the Times misrepresented the facts at every turn.”
2023 correspondence
On September 3, 2023, I received an email from Twohey copied to Times external communications executive Danielle Rhoades Ha. Twohey requested that biographical information on this page be removed, all of which had been previously published.
My reply:
In 2003 J. Michael Bailey was presenting images and confidential clinical information about six-year olds from my community for laughs to future clinicians.
This vulgar misuse of our children without their knowledge or consent was part of a tour for Baileyâs transphobic book that came out under the federal imprimatur of the National Academies Press. That book is framed by the fabricated case report of a six-year-old gender diverse child whose âcuringâ is presented as evidence that children should not get gender affirming care.
Back when the Times still had a public editor, I expressed my concerns about your employerâs sustained support for Bailey and like-minded grifters like Alice Dreger who manipulate science and media to harm our children. The Times did worse than nothing. That Times reporter and the Science editors defamed me as payback, a major media coup that allowed Bailey and friends to continue harming children, adding years to my work getting their infamous Toronto childrenâs gender clinic shut down.
I wonât even get into Baileyâs sex with a book subject/patient, etc. Your mother got paid to help Bailey and employer Northwestern get out in front of his live âfucksawâ demonstration. Your family got paid to help Bailey stay tenured.
Not one journalist in America has published one article that speaks truth to power about these 50 years of attacks on our children via Archives of Sexual Behavior. A reporter from the Chicago Tribune once asked Dreger directly about Baileyâs fabrication and Dregerâs cover-up, but the story got spiked.
In a just world, Baileyâs book would be retracted, Baileyâs editor would be fired, Dregerâs article would be retracted, and Dregerâs editor would be fired. It would just take one article. Instead we get decades of Times coverage like hand-wringing about side effects of treatment that is being banned across the country, forcing families from NBA legends to struggling single parents to join in the largest mass interstate migration since COVID.
Few organizations have done more to make trans lives harder than the New York Times. You, your family, and the organizations that have paid all of you are part of the problem. Iâm simply documenting all this for historians.
PS: Your profile is standard encyclopedia fare. Your family members are all media professionals whoâve been in the public eye, and your six-year-oldâs full name and age are published on the New York Times website.
Twohey ignored my outline of the Twohey family’s negative impact on hundreds of thousands of American children, merely disputing my postscript. I then provided Twohey a Times website link. Despite being under no obligation to do so, I honored part of Twohey’s request.
References
Acharya, Ustav (August 19, 2020). Megan Twohey. Bio Wikis https://biowikis.com/megan-twohey/
Klein, Charlotte (February 27, 2023). Inside the New York Times blowup over transgender coverage. Vanity Fair https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/new-york-times-trans-coverage-debate
Jones, Imara (July 17, 2023). S02E05: Capturing The New York Times. The Anti-Trans Hate Machine: A Plot Against Equality https://translash.org/transcript-capturing-the-new-york-times/
Oladipo, Gloria (February 18, 2023). Nearly 1,000 contributors protest New York Timesâ coverage of trans people. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/17/new-york-times-contributors-open-letter-protest-anti-trans-coverage
Duffy, Kaiyti (November 29, 2022). Recent Anti-Trans Articles Miss the Point of Gender-Affirming Care. Teen Vogue https://www.teenvogue.com/story/recent-anti-trans-articles-miss-the-point-of-gender-affirming-care
Wulfsohn, Joseph A. (November 15, 2022). New York Times story on puberty blockers fuels critics amid trans debate: ‘Decade late on this story.’ Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/media/new-york-times-story-puberty-blockers-fuels-critics-amid-trans-debate-decade-late-story
Thiesen, Lauren (November 15, 2022). How Many Trans People Does The New York Times Believe There Should Be? Defector https://defector.com/how-many-trans-people-does-the-new-york-times-believe-there-should-be
Sonoma, Sirena (April 19, 2023). The New York Timesâ Inaccurate Coverage of Transgender People is Being Weaponized Against the Transgender Community. GLAAD https://glaad.org/new-york-times-inaccurate-coverage-transgender-people-being-weaponized-against-transgender/
Eckert, AJ (December 4, 2022). What the New York Times gets wrong about puberty blockers for transgender youth. Science Based Medicine https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/what-the-new-york-times-gets-wrong-about-puberty-blockers-for-transgender-youth/
Bolies, Corbin (March 7, 2023). The New York Timesâ Trans Coverage Debacle Was Years in the Making. The Daily Beast https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-new-york-times-trans-coverage-debacle-was-years-in-the-making
Reilly, Patrick (February 15, 2023). New York Times accused of âeditorial biasâ in coverage of transgender issues. New York Post https://nypost.com/2023/02/15/new-york-times-blasted-for-editorial-bias-in-transgender-coverage/
USPATH and WPATH respond to NY Times article âThey Paused Puberty, But Is There a Cost? published on November 14, 2022 (PDF). https://www.wpath.org/media/cms/Documents/Public%20Policies/2022/USPATHWPATH%20Statement%20re%20Nov%2014%202022%20NYT%20Article%20Nov%2022%202022.pdf
Urquhart, Evan (November 14, 2022). NYT Investigation Offers Biased Reporting on Puberty Blocker Concerns. Assigned https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/nyt-investigation-finds-concerns-about-puberty-blockers-for-trans-youth
Urquhart, Evan (November 17, 2022). The NYTâs big piece on puberty blockers mucked up the most important point about them. Slate https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/puberty-blockers-side-effects-controversy.html
Migdon, Brooke (February 15, 2023). NYT contributors blast paperâs coverage of transgender people. The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3859501-nyt-contributors-blast-papers-coverage-of-transgender-people/
Warrington, James (February 16, 2023). How the New York Times was engulfed by a trans culture war. The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/02/15/new-york-times-accused-writers-anti-trans-bigotry/
Twohey, Megan; Jewett, Christina (November 14, 2022). They Paused Puberty, but Is There a Cost? New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/health/puberty-blockers-transgender.html
Jewett, Christina (February 2, 2017). Drug used to halt puberty in children may cause lasting health problems. Kaiser Health News https://www.statnews.com/2017/02/02/lupron-puberty-children-health-problems/
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Christina Jewett is an American author and anti-transgender activist. Jewett co-wrote a scaremongering New York Times article about healthcare for trans and gender diverse youth titled “They Paused Puberty, but Is There a Cost?” The piece helped spark a newsroom revolt against management during the Times’ 2020s anti-trans coverage crisis.
Background
Christina D. Jewett was born on May 11, 1980 and grew up in Griffith, Indiana. Jewett earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University in 2002. Jewett reported for the Sacramento Bee from 2002 to 2008, ProPublica from 2008 to 2009, and the Center for Investigative Reporting from 2009 to 2016. Jewett was then a correspondent for Kaiser Health News from 2016 to 2021 before joining the New York Times as a correspondent focusing on federal healthcare regulation in 2021.
Jewett married Floyd Charles Marvin III (born 1974). They have two children.
Anti-trans activism
While writing for Kaiser, Jewett began reporting on cisgender people who believe puberty blockers which they took as minors led to short- and long-term adverse side effects. Children whose puberty starts at 5 to 8 years old often face social problems, and those capable of pregnancy are at higher risk of sexual harassment and assault. Doctors work with parents to weigh the risks and benefits before getting informed consent. As with any medical treatment, some people will be harmed more than they were helped.
In 2022, Megan Twohey and Jewett co-wrote a New York Times article on puberty blockers for gender diverse youth that culminated in a 2023 newsroom revolt against Times leadership.
The story is about “emerging evidence of potential harm” and the “long-term physical effects and other consequences” of Lupron and other medications that can manage onset of puberty. Any drug carries a risk of side effects, which the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tracks via adverse event reports. FDA approved Lupron for central precocious puberty in 1993. It has since been used for trans and gender diverse youth experiencing unwanted puberty. Doctors have wide latitude to use approved drugs “off label,” including use to delay puberty for trans and gender diverse youth.
Focusing on uncommon side effects and unknown risks is a long-used pretense to restrict or ban contraception and abortion, especially for minors. For more information, see this site’s analysis of “They Paused Puberty, but Is There a Cost?”
References
Klein, Charlotte (February 27, 2023). Inside the New York Times blowup over transgender coverage. Vanity Fair https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/new-york-times-trans-coverage-debate
Jones, Imara (July 17, 2023). S02E05: Capturing The New York Times. The Anti-Trans Hate Machine: A Plot Against Equality https://translash.org/transcript-capturing-the-new-york-times/
Oladipo, Gloria (February 18, 2023). Nearly 1,000 contributors protest New York Timesâ coverage of trans people. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/17/new-york-times-contributors-open-letter-protest-anti-trans-coverage
Wulfsohn, Joseph A. (November 15, 2022). New York Times story on puberty blockers fuels critics amid trans debate: ‘Decade late on this story.’ Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/media/new-york-times-story-puberty-blockers-fuels-critics-amid-trans-debate-decade-late-story
Duffy, Kaiyti (November 29, 2022). Recent Anti-Trans Articles Miss the Point of Gender-Affirming Care. Teen Vogue https://www.teenvogue.com/story/recent-anti-trans-articles-miss-the-point-of-gender-affirming-care
Thiesen, Lauren (November 15, 2022). How Many Trans People Does The New York Times Believe There Should Be? Defector https://defector.com/how-many-trans-people-does-the-new-york-times-believe-there-should-be
Bolies, Corbin (March 7, 2023). The New York Timesâ Trans Coverage Debacle Was Years in the Making. The Daily Beast https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-new-york-times-trans-coverage-debacle-was-years-in-the-making
Reilly, Patrick (February 15, 2023). New York Times accused of âeditorial biasâ in coverage of transgender issues. New York Post https://nypost.com/2023/02/15/new-york-times-blasted-for-editorial-bias-in-transgender-coverage/
Eckert, AJ. What the New York Times gets wrong about puberty blockers for transgender youth. Science-Based Medicine https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/what-the-new-york-times-gets-wrong-about-puberty-blockers-for-transgender-youth/
USPATH and WPATH respond to NY Times article âThey Paused Puberty, But Is There a Cost? published on November 14, 2022 (PDF). https://www.wpath.org/media/cms/Documents/Public%20Policies/2022/USPATHWPATH%20Statement%20re%20Nov%2014%202022%20NYT%20Article%20Nov%2022%202022.pdf
Eckert, AJ (December 4, 2022). What the New York Times gets wrong about puberty blockers for transgender youth. Science Based Medicine https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/what-the-new-york-times-gets-wrong-about-puberty-blockers-for-transgender-youth/
Sonoma, Sirena (April 19, 2023). The New York Timesâ Inaccurate Coverage of Transgender People is Being Weaponized Against the Transgender Community. GLAAD https://glaad.org/new-york-times-inaccurate-coverage-transgender-people-being-weaponized-against-transgender/
Rook, Erin (November 18, 2022). Reckless NY Times reporting fuels disinformation about trans youth. LGBTQ Nation https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/11/reckless-ny-times-reporting-fuels-disinformation-trans-youth/
Urquhart, Evan (November 17, 2022). The NYTâs big piece on puberty blockers mucked up the most important point about them. Slate https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/puberty-blockers-side-effects-controversy.html
Migdon, Brooke (February 15, 2023). NYT contributors blast paperâs coverage of transgender people. The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3859501-nyt-contributors-blast-papers-coverage-of-transgender-people/
Warrington, James (February 16, 2023). How the New York Times was engulfed by a trans culture war. The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/02/15/new-york-times-accused-writers-anti-trans-bigotry/
Twohey, Megan; Jewett, Christina (November 14, 2022). They Paused Puberty, but Is There a Cost? New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/health/puberty-blockers-transgender.html
Staff report (October 13, 2021). Stephen Jewett. Northwest Indiana Times https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/obituaries/stephen-jewett/article_00853351-ee9a-5bcd-be8b-b04c4c64b3ac.html
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Katie J.M. Baker is an American writer who was one of the New York Times employees at the center of the publication’s anti-trans coverage crisis of the 2020s.
Background
Baker was born on September 15, 1987 and grew up in the San Fernando Valley. Baker earned a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Berkeley in 2009. Baker freelanced for the San Francisco Chronicle and Jezebel before joining Newsweek in 2013. Baker was an investigative reporter at Buzzfeed from 2014 to 2022 and joined the Times as a correspondent in 2022, brought over on the recommendation of Virginia Hughes.
Baker has consulted on media productions about the news. Much of Baker’s writing covers sexual harassment and assault in schools and workplaces, as well as online sex and gender politics.
Transgender coverage
Baker became interested in trans issues after moving from New York to London and witnessing the transphobic moral panic among radicalized “parental rights” extremists, particularly on Mumsnet:
If Mumsnetâs womenâs rights forum is popular because it responds to the experience of being stuck at home without support or community, itâs done so in a way that leaves Mumsnetters in a political cul-de-sac. The community isolates its members in a bubble of transphobic thought that leaves them free to develop their bigotries without needing to encounter the human beings affected by them. It also inculcates members with a tragically narrow idea of feminism, one that rejects other people fighting for gender liberation. And finally, it puts followers at odds with the broader left, which has been fighting for a world without gender oppression, as well as for benefits Mumsnetters say they care about, such as free child care and well-funded health care.
Baker (2021)
Baker helped import this moral panic to the US by covering the American parental rights movement for the Times. Where the Mumsnet piece was attacked by gender critical people, anti-trans activists like Jesse Singal had nothing but good things to say about Baker’s Times piece and its framing. Via the open letter by Times contributors:
In a similar case, Katie Bakerâs recent feature âWhen Students Change Gender Identity and Parents Donât Knowâ misframed the battle over childrenâs right to safely transition. The piece fails to make clear that court cases brought by parents who want schools to out their trans children are part of a legal strategy pursued by anti-trans hate groups. These groups have identified trans people as an âexistential threat to societyâ and seek to replace the American public education system with Christian homeschooling, key context Baker did not provide to Times readers.
Walker et al. (2023)
References
Urquhart, Evan (January 22, 2023). NYT Credulously Repeats Parentsâ Rights Nonsense. Assigned https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/nyt-parents-rights-nonsense
Mirkinson, Jack (January 23, 2023). The New York Times Is Hooked on Transphobia. Discourse Blog https://www.discourseblog.com/p/the-new-york-times-is-hooked-on-transphobia
Bolies, Corbin (March 7, 2023). The New York Timesâ Trans Coverage Debacle Was Years in the Making. The Daily Beast https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-new-york-times-trans-coverage-debacle-was-years-in-the-making
Landers, Reba (January 31, 2023). The New York Times Is Wrong: Trans Kids Need Support, Not âGender Skepticism.â Left Voice https://www.leftvoice.org/the-new-york-times-is-wrong-trans-kids-need-support-not-gender-skepticism/
Bolies, Corbin; Cartwright, Lachlan (February 16, 2023). New York Times blasts staffers who condemned paperâs trans coverage. The Daily Beast https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-york-times-blast-staffers-who-condemned-papers-trans-coverage
Reilly, Patrick (February 15, 2023). New York Times accused of âeditorial biasâ in coverage of transgender issues. New York Post https://nypost.com/2023/02/15/new-york-times-blasted-for-editorial-bias-in-transgender-coverage/
Eckert, AJ. What the New York Times gets wrong about puberty blockers for transgender youth. Science-Based Medicine https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/what-the-new-york-times-gets-wrong-about-puberty-blockers-for-transgender-youth/
Bond, Chanea (February 17, 2023). The @nytimes is an arm of the oppressive regime⊠https://twitter.com/heymrsbond/status/1626565133798412288
Minton, Evan (Feb 16, 2023 ) The @nytimes is jeopardizing trans folksâ lives for click bait. Twitter https://twitter.com/EvanMMinton/status/1626462444003659776
Doyle, Jude Allison S. (February 27, 2023). What went wrong at the New York Times? Xtra https://xtramagazine.com/power/what-went-wrong-at-the-new-york-times-246409
Sulzberger, A.G. (April 4, 2022). 2022 State of The Times Remarks. New York Times Company https://www.nytco.com/press/2022-state-of-the-times-remarks/
Walker et al. (February 15, 2023 ff.). [Open letter to Philip B. Corbett] https://nytletter.com/
Gutierrez, Claire; Yang, Jia Lynn (September 9, 2022). Katie Baker joins The Times. New York Times Company https://www.nytco.com/press/katie-baker-joins-the-times/
Baker, Katie J. M. (January 22, 2023). When Students Change Gender Identity, and Parents Donât Know. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/22/us/gender-identity-students-parents.html
Baker, Katie J. M. (January 2021). The road to TERFdom. Lux https://lux-magazine.com/article/the-road-to-terfdom/
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Jake Silverstein is an American author and anti-transgender activist. Silverstein was responsible for a 2023 anti-trans feature about gender diverse youth by Emily Bazelon in The New York Times Magazine.
Background
Jacob “Jake” Silverstein was born on October 14, 1975 and grew up in Oakland, California. Silverstein earned a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University, a master’s degree from Hollins University, and a master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006.
After working in local news, Silverstein was editor of Texas Monthly from 2008 to 2014, then was named editor of The New York Times Magazine.
Silverstein and spouse Mary Jillian LaMotte Silverstein (born 1970) have two children.
Anti-trans activism
This new section is under construction.
In the fall of 2021, Silverstein conceived of and assigned a story to Emily Bazelon, telling On the Media (OTM):
We understood that an interesting moment in the field of transgender care was coming up, and that was the release of this new Standards of Care which had last been published I believe it was 2012. So almost a decade ago. That was one of the original motivations for the story, to try to understand what process was going into that and get ahead of the publication of those new Standards of Care. As Emily began looking into it, we had access to this working group that was working on the chapter about adolescence. And we began to understand that there were some not only debates and discussions happening within that group, but also there was a really intense complexity to them doing their work, in the context of a proliferation of really draconian legislation restricting trans rights in various states around the country.
Silverstein OTM 2023
Their key access point was psychiatrist Scott Leibowitz, who along with Laura Edwards-Leeper is also a key source for Jesse Singal and other anti-trans activists framing trans people as having a medical and/or psychiatric problem (“gender dysphoria,” etc.). Leibowitz leads off the article in Bazelon’s “cisgender person under siege” framing long favored by the Times when covering gender diverse people. Leibowitz and Edwards-Leeper served on the WPATH chapter on “Assessment, Support and Therapeutic Approaches for Adolescents with Gender Variance/Dysphoria.” Also serving were Annelou de Vries, Jon Arcelus, Gayathri Chelvakumar, Stephanie Roberts, and John Strang.
OTM pressed Silverstein about context.
Thatâs right, I think youâre quoting from Emilyâs story there. The politicization in certain state legislatures around the country around this issue has created a political debate around something that has ended up distorting a lot of the reception of articles like Emily’s.
Silverstein PTM 2023
The phrase patient zero was one of the examples of bias cited in the open letters to Times management.
This term was introduced to Emily during her interview with the patient in question, a Dutch trans man who we refer to in the story as F.G. Emily tracked him down and interviewed him at length. And he said to her, “I was patient zero.” The term also appears in a book that is cited in Emilyâs story about the history of the Amsterdam clinic that uses the term patient zero to describe the same person. And in both cases the meaning was clear to Emily in these interviews and in reading this book. It described the first-ever recipient of this treatment. Thatâs what it meant, and I think it was pretty clear thatâs what it meant from the context. Like I said, itâs not used in quotation marks. He is quoted, saying other things, and heâs quoted saying this treatment saved his life. And Emily didnât realize that it was going to have another connotation for other people.
Silverstein OTM 2023
The phrase patient zero was removed from Bazelon’s article and replaced with the phrase first patient. The Times made the change after On the Media made an inquiry and before Silverstein came on their show.
Weâve been talking about making that particular change. Changing something to a story that we published for reasons other than a factual correction is never something that we take lightly. Itâs not something we do very often. As you can imagine itâs something that requires a lot of conversations and deliberations internally. So it took a little bit of time for that to work its way through the process. But we felt it was the right thing to do. I wish we had immediately understood how some readers might take that term.
Silverstein OTM 2023
Times coverage was quickly cited in anti-trans legislation, which Silverstein feels is beyond the Times’ control.
I donât believe that thereâs anything in this story or any other news coverage that supports banning gender therapy. I believe, and I canât say for sure, because I obviously had nothing to do with this amicus brief, that these pieces were cited to show that there is a debate among providers about how to best perform gender care for minors. And that is what these stories document with their reporting. Once we hit publish, we donât control how readers of any kind are going to use our stories. And I donât know that we should.
Silverstein OTM 2023
How they covered Genspect:
Weâve heard this criticism about not identifying Genspect. Some of the people who criticized Emily’s story wanted us to refer to Genspect as a hate group. We canât say that without evidence, right? We can characterize groups up to a point, unless weâre going to dedicate reporting time to investigating a particular group, we canât characterize it a certain way without evidence.
Silverstein OTM 2023
Masha Gessen thought Bazelon’s piece was excellent, Andrew Sullivan
Itâs certainly not the position of the journalist in question here, of Emily. Part of what Emily is doing in the story is she’s trying to gather in a sense of what that conversation is and what that commentary is, and the context in which these folks are doing their work. That process of doing that, of gathering in this commentary doesnât mean that Emily endorses every single thing that sheâs citing. Sheâs trying to give readers a sense of the atmosphere in which these gender affirming clinicians are doing their work.
Silverstein OTM 2023
On including ex-trans activist Grace Lidinsky-Smith of Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network, who regrets top surgery requested and received as an adult.
Sure, I mean the question of how to identify people quoted in stories comes up a lot, and sometimes the decision is based on the footprint that they occupy in a story: how much the story is about them, how significant their part of the story is, and in this case, in a very long story in which the subject was a very small part, it seemed to us that we were giving the reader the information that was most relevant.
Silverstein OTM 2023
When pressed about including an adult ex-trans activist associated with groups seeking to restrict trans healthcare. tagential to the purview of the piece, and “we didn’t get a lot of context about where she was coming from.”
Mm-hm. Yeah, I understand that.
Silverstein OTM 2023
Is there anything you wish you did differently in your coverage or your editing process?
As you can see from the fact that we changed the term “patient zero,” I certainly wish we had changed that before we hit publish on the story. But other than that, I would say no. Iâm really proud of this piece. Emilyâs piece is a finalist for the National Magazine Award in the category of public interest this year. A jury of her peers said itâs one of the six most important pieces of public interest journalism published in any magazine last year. And I think thatâs correct. This kind of reporting is very difficult to do. It takes a kind of focus, it takes a kind of fortitude, and it also takes the commitment to the principles of journalism that not everybody has. And Emily does.
Silverstein OTM 2023
On June 18, 2022, Silverstein tweeted “This weekendâs @NYTmag cover is a deeply-reported story by @emilybazelon on debates among providers within the field of transgender health care over how to treat teenagers. Emily spent 8 months on this piece, and interviewed and quoted many transgender providers who have a variety of perspectives, as well as cisgender providers who have spent their careers in gender-affirming care. Reporting on subjects that are highly politicized is challenging. Thatâs why Emilyâs methodical, principled, & deeply journalistic approach was important. I hope youâll read her story.”
ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio noted that Silverstein’s work was immediately used to attack Texas families with gender diverse children:
This is from an expert report filed by Texas in defense of its policy of directing the “child welfare” agency to investigate medical treatment for gender dysphoria as child abuse. It is hard to watch this all unfold with such devastating harms.
Lee Leveille and Ky Schevers of Health Liberation Now! also described their involvement and reaction:
Genspect and Stella O’Malley
- multiple Genspect members are active in clinic protests
- the groupâs extensive collaboration with faith-based lobbying groups for SOGICE in order to undermine efforts to ban conversion therapy.
- training conferences held by the NHS being canceled
- âmake sure that children are, if- if at all possible, are stopped from medical transitionâ
GCCAN and Grace Lidinsky-Smith
Health Liberation Now! concludes:
Media portrayals on de/retransition, particularly in the framing of regret or mental health assessment, have aggravated the very political battle that Bazelon references in the article. In doing so, the New York Times feeds into the ongoing disinformation campaign we caution about in When Ex-Trans Worlds Collide.
References
Migdon, Brooke (February 15, 2023). NYT contributors blast paperâs coverage of transgender people. The Hill https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3859501-nyt-contributors-blast-papers-coverage-of-transgender-people/
(June 22, 2022). Response to NYT Article âThe Battle Over Gender Therapy.â Health Liberation Now! https://healthliberationnow.com/2022/06/22/health-liberation-nows-response-to-nyt-article-the-battle-over-gender-therapy/
The New York Times Company (March 28, 2014). The New York Times Names Jake Silverstein Editor of The New York Times Magazine. https://investors.nytco.com/news-and-events/press-releases/news-details/2014/The-New-York-Times-Names-Jake-Silverstein-Editor-of-The-New-York-Times-Magazine/default.aspx
Loewinger, Micah (August 11, 2023). Go Woke, Go Broke. On the Media https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-go-woke-go-broke
Deprang, Jo (April 27, 2010). Fact over fiction. Texas Observer https://www.texasobserver.org/fact-over-fiction/
Resources
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
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Michal Meyer is an Israel-born writer and anti-transgender activist. Meyer is known for a credulous 2015 profile of anti-trans activist Alice Dreger, later deleted.
Background
Michal Meyer was born in February 1969. Meyer earned a bachelor’s degree from Victoria University of Wellington in 1994. Meyer was a weather forecaster in New Zealand and Fiji, then edited the Jerusalem Post Magazine from 2001 to 2003. During graduate school, Meyer edited the History of Science Society newsletter from 2003 to 2009. Meyer earned a doctorate from University of Florida in 2009.
Meyer was editor of Distillations magazine from 2009 to 2022.
Promotion of Alice Dreger (2015)
While editor of Distillations, Meyer published a glowing review of Galileo’s Middle Finger by anti-trans activist Alice Dreger. Meyer represents Dreger’s core audience: mediocre academics of a certain age who see themselves in Dreger’s fabrications. Meyer wants to believe Dreger is a fearless teller of “the truth,” because it panders to all of Meyer’s biases and fantasies.
Meyer described the book as “a love letter to evidence-based research done well.” Meyer parrots Dreger’s attacks on pediatrician Maria New and dutifully summarizes Dreger’s support of unethical behavior scientists J. Michael Bailey and Napoleon Chagnon.
After Meyer left Science History Institute in 2022, the article was quietly removed.
References
Meyer, Michal (December 20, 2015). Identity Politics. Distillations https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/identity-politics [archive]
Resources
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
Science History Institute (sciencehistory.org)
Michael Powell is an American writer and anti-transgender activist involved in the New York Times anti-transgender coverage crisis of the 2020s. In 2024, Powell moved to anti-trans publication The Atlantic.
Background
Michael Henry Powell was born on January 20, 1957. Powell earned a bachelor’s degree from The State University of New York at Purchase in 1978 and then attended Columbia University.
In 1982 Powell married Evelyn M. Intondi (born March 14, 1956), a midwife and reproductive health specialist. They have two adult children.
Powell worked at New York Newsday from 1988 to 1995. Powell next moved to The Washington Post in 1996. Powell was with The New York Observer before joining the Times in 2007. After writing on the “Gotham” column, Powell moved to Sports in 2014.
In early 2020, Powell requested a new role from anti-trans editor Carolyn Ryan, who told The Observer:
âWe needed somebody who was deeply experienced at covering controversies in a panoramic way, who was experienced enough that they wouldnât get intimidated or really shaken by some of the criticisms on Twitter and elsewhere.â
In June, Powell ended work on the “Sports of The Times” column and began writing about “free speech and thought, identity, campuses and so on.”
In 2023 Powell moved to the even more transphobic Atlantic, which has not had a trans journalist on their masthead since their founding in 1857.
Anti-transgender activism
In 2014 Powell boasted about interviewing “transvestite prostitutes from Ecuador.” No reputable journalist was using the term transvestite in 2014.
Lia Thomas non-interview
In a 2022 story on transgender athletes, Powell wrote one of thousands of articles that used Lia Thomas as outrage bait, even though Powell failed to interview Thomas for the piece. Where an earlier piece in the Times by Billy Witz adhered to objective reporting, Powell chose to frame transgender people as debates to be solved. Powell claims the debates center on “science, fairness and inclusiveness, and cut to the core of distinctions between gender identity and biological sex.”
Many people across the political spectrum are deeply invested in maintaining sex segregation and shoring up the study of “sex differences,” and Powell uncritically presents their pettifogging about rules and measurements and what-not.
To Powell’s credit, the story briefly mentions Anna Posbergh among the usual suspects fixated on minutiae within a fatally flawed and fundamentally unfair institution. Posbergh is one of many who believe that there is no ethical future for sex-segregated competitive sport, which largely exists to further the belief that one half of the human population is “inferior” to the other half.
Powell polishes the classic “science vs. activism” chestnut, suggesting only “activists” believe biology is socially constructed:
Even nomenclature is contentious. Descriptive phrases such as âbiological womanâ and âbiological manâ might be seen as central to discussing differences in performance. Many trans rights activists say such expressions are transphobic and insist biology and gender identity are largely social constructs.
Powell concludes, “The solution, a balance of gender and biology, looks distant.” While the solution is distant, it is not a balance of gender and biology. It is a recognition that sex-segregated sport, just like any sex-segregated institution, has no place in an ethical society.
Background on the Thomas non-interview
Powell contacted GLAAD in the course of the story, and after they told Powell that Martina Navratilova holds views they consider objectionable, Powell naturally included Navratilova because it violates some sort of perceived taboo.
Those mentioned by Powell include:
- Lia Thomas
- Princeton University women’s swim team
- Robin Harris, Ivy League ED
- Robert Sanchez of Sports Illustrated
- Sebastian Coe of World Athletics
- ACLU
- GLAAD
- Martina Navratilova
- Half of University of Pennsylvania women’s swim teammates
- Brooke Forde
- Griffin Maxwell Brooks
- Michael J. Joyner of Mayo Clinic
- NCAA
- Ross Tucker
- Chris Mosier
- Ira S. Hammerman
- Carole Hooven
- Allyson Felix
- Renée Richards
- Joanna Harper
- Reka Gyorgy
- Womenâs Sports Foundation
- Doriane Lambelet Coleman
- Nathan Palmer
- Anna Posbergh
- Kathleen Stock
- Iszac Henig
- Emily Bridges
- Macdonald-Laurier Institute
References
Witz, Billy (January 24, 2022). As Lia Thomas Swims, Debate About Transgender Athletes Swirls. The New York Times. [archive] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/sports/lia-thomas-transgender-swimmer.html
Powell, Michael (May 6, 2014). Profiling the City He Knew, and Learned to Know. New York Times https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/times-insider/2014/05/06/profiling-the-city-he-knew-and-learned-to-know/
Powell, Michael (May 29, 2022). Much Debate but Little Dialogue on Transgender Female Athletes. [alternately titled “What Lia Thomas Could Mean for Womenâs Elite Sports.”] New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/29/us/lia-thomas-women-sports.html
Press room (July 18, 2023). The Atlantic Hires Michael Powell and Zoë Schlanger as Staff Writers. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2023/07/atlantic-hires-michael-powell-and-zoe-schlanger/674739/
Kassel, Matthew (June 29, 2020). The NYTimes reporter who traded in the sports beat to cover âidentity wars.â Jewish Insider https://jewishinsider.com/2020/06/the-nytimes-reporter-who-traded-in-the-sports-beat-to-cover-identity-wars/
Hogue, William P. (February 23, 2023) From Sports to Politics to Telescopes, Michael Powell Brings Heart and Shoe Leather. Observer https://observer.com/2023/02/from-sports-to-politics-to-telescopes-michael-powell-brings-heart-and-shoe-leather/
-https://twitter.com/powellAtlantic/status/1276191624201199620
Meares, Joel (August 13, 2010). Q & A: New York Times Reporter Michael Powell. Columbia Journalism Review https://archives.cjr.org/behind_the_news/q_a_new_york_times_reporter_mi.php
Resources
Muck Rack (muckrack.com)
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Danielle Rhoades Ha is an American communications executive who handled public relations at New York Times during their 2020s anti-transgender coverage crisis. Rhoades Ha is responsible for “advancing and protecting our public reputation” at the Times.
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 work there as of 2023 according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.
Background
Danielle Rhoades Ha was born on March 27, 1977 to Michael and Lillian Rhoades.
Rhoades Ha earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Texas at Austin in 1999, then joined PR firm Goodman Media International. From 2000 to 2007 Rhoades Ha handled media relations for Dow Jones & Company before joining the Times in 2010. Rhoades Ha was named SVP, Communications in 2022. Rhoades Ha reports to David Rubin.
Rhoades Ha is married to Vimy Xuan Rhoades Ha (born 1975), a consultant and poker player.
2023 correspondence
On September 3, 2023, I received an email from Times employee Megan Twohey copied to Rhoades Ha. Twohey requested biographical information be removed. My response can be viewed on Twohey’s profile.
References
Rubin, David (June 8, 2022). Danielle Rhoades Ha Promoted to Head of External Communications. New York Times Company https://www.nytco.com/press/danielle-rhoades-ha-promoted-to-head-of-external-communications/
Resources
Twitter (twitter.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
April Kitzul is a Canadian anti-transgender activist.
Background
April Kitzul was an Institutional Parole Officer and Correctional Program Officer in sex-segregated facilities at Correctional Service Canada until 2022. Previously, Kitzul was a provincial child protection social worker, serving as a case manager at Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families
Anti-transgender activism
Kitzul waas radicalized in following passage of An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code. It was introduced in Canada as Bill C-16 in 2016.
In 2021, Kitzul created the website Trans-Truth.
Kitzul is a member of Canadian Womenâs Sex-Based Rights (caWsbar) and is involved in the Women’s Human Rights Campaign (BC-Yukon Coordinator).
References
Kitzul, April (February 8, 2023). Reflections on the impact of gender self-identification policies in the Canadian correctional system. MLI https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/reflections-on-the-impact-of-gender-self-identification-policies-in-the-canadian-correctional-system/
-https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/432/JUST/Brief/BR11006176/br-external/WomensHumanRightsCampaignBritishColumbiaAndYukonChapter-e.pdf
Resources
Trans Truth (trans-truth.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
Rod Fleming is a Scottish author and activist who promotes anti-transgender, anti-feminist, and anti-gay views. Fleming personifies nearly every negative stereotype of a transphobic trans-attracted person.
Fleming is one of the most obsessive “autogynephilia” activists in the world, promoting the disease as an exercise in identity politics.
Background
Roderick Anthony “Rod” Fleming was born on March 11, 1956, in Dundee, Scotland.
Fleming earned a bachelor’s degree from Edinburgh College of Art in 1983, then produced images and video for Scotland on Sunday. In 2011, Fleming earned a master’s degree from Dundee University.
Fleming was married and has four adult children. Fleming moved to Asia and was romantically involved with a trans partner named Sam Villasencio. Fleming announced that Villasencio died on October 2, 2023.
âAutogynephiliaâ activism
Some trans-attracted people who engage in “autogynephilia” activism wish to distance their own attractions from trans women they consider âautogynephiles.â In some cases, it is because they see âAGPâ trans women as a threat to their âheterosexualâ identity. They often brag about how âheterosexualâ they are and how the “homosexual transsexualâ people they desire are extremely feminine and only interested in masculine âheterosexualâ partners like them.
Trans-attracted people who use the terms “homosexual transsexualâ or “HSTS” are among the most obsessed with “autogynephilia” and creator Ray Blanchardâs taxonomy of “HSTS” and “AGP,” because itâs so important to their own sexual identities.
Fleming offers counseling for “autogynephiles” and for “trans widows,” slang for spouses whose partner came out as trans.
Resources
Rod Fleming (rodfleming.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
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Plashmill Press (plashmill-press.com)
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Threads (threads.net)
Sally Chatterton is a British writer and anti-transgender extremist. Chatterton is editor of anti-trans publication UnHerd and is responsible for its consistent platforming of conservative and anti-trans voices.
Background
Chatterton earned a bachelor’s degree from Birmingham University in 1994 and earned a master’s degree from Institut Britannique, Paris in 1995.
Chatterton previously wrote for The Daily Telegraph and The Independent.
Chatterton was website editor for CapX, a publication of the right-wing Centre for Policy Studies.
Anti-transgender activism
Chatterton joined UnHerd in 2018. Chatterton has platformed dozens of conservative and anti-trans writers, including personally platforming Hannah Barnes and Kathleen Stock in attacks on trans healthcare for our children.
Media
Sally Chatterton (March 2, 2023). Hannah Barnes: What went wrong at the Tavistock Centre. UnHerd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7ZqW6MxWxs
Sally Chatterton (October 19, 2023). Kathleen Stock: Inside Britain’s new trans clinics. UnHerd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QboHWVDCyDQ
Resources
UnHerd (unherd.com)
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Muck Rack (muckrack.com)