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The New York Times is an American media organization. With some notable exceptions, their coverage of transgender issues has been neutral to negative. The Science, Opinion, and Books sections have been particularly biased on trans issues.

No transgender journalist has appeared on the New York Times masthead since its founding in 1851. Due to the hostile work environment, no transgender reporters worked there according to a 2023 San Francisco Chronicle report.

Assessments

It is considered a paper of record for the United States, along with The Washington Post.

Ad Fontes Media (adfontesmedia.com)

  • New York Times
  • Reliability: 47.50 out of 64 (32+ is “generally good”)
  • Bias: -4.01 (9.5% left-leaning bias)

NewsGuard (as of January 2020)

  • Approximate score: 100
  • Standards failed: None

Anti-transgender coverage crisis

Decades of anti-transgender coverage culminated in a newsroom revolt in 2023:

According to Times sources, there used to be open Slack channels where staff could discuss any issues they had with coverage, and they freely voiced objections at all-hands meetings with the masthead editors. But now, with the advent of virtual meetings, management doesn’t pick the uncomfortable questions during Q&A.

And, that employee said, there are still no out trans reporters on staff at the paper. 

Ho (2023)

Key people

Current

Former

Contributors

Cisgender

Trans+

References

Wilkins, Riki (2024). Bad Ink: How The New York Times Sold Out Transgender Teens. Riverdale Avenue Books, ISBN 9781626016828

Urquhart, Evan (January 8, 2025). Bias at NYT: Trans Former Employee Speaks Out. Assigned Media https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/former-editor-nyt-biased-on-trans-hiring

Bolies, Corbin (March 7, 2023). The New York Times’ 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

Ho, Soliel (August 31, 2023). Inside the New York Times’ trans coverage: ‘I wonder if people at the top fully believe in trans people’s humanity.’ San Francisco Chronicle https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/new-york-times-trans-18214925.php

Resources

New York Times (nytimes.com)

Britannica (britannica.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

WorldCat (worldcat.org)

The Atlantic is an American media organization.

Their record on fairly covering transgender people is spotty, and they have not had a transgender journalist on their masthead or staff since 1848.

The Atlantic is one of several “centrist” publications with an unusually high proportion of trans-skeptical and anti-transgender staffers, including Jeffrey Goldberg, David Frum, Scott Stossel, Adrienne LaFrance, Don Peck, Swati Sharma, Denise Kersten Wills, Sarah Yager, Adrienne Green, Hanna Rosin, Olga Khazan, Conor Friedersdorf, Helen Lewis, Michael Powell, and Emily Yoffe.

Contributors

 Chris Bodenner

  • TRANSGENDER DEBATE (2016)
    • Why Is the T in LGBT?
    • Will Trans Servicemembers Be as Controversial as the Bathroom Issue?
    • Could the Transgender Debate Lead to Pay Toilets?
    • What Makes a Man or a Woman?
    • What About Transgender Women in Women’s Shelters?
    • Is the ‘Trans Lobby’ Disproportionately Strong?
    • Why Not a Private Restroom for Everyone?
    • ‘Trans Issues Are Not Left/Right’
    • Is the Transgender Movement a Spiritual One?
    • Much Ado About Genitalia
    • Does the Left Have a Smug Problem?

Gillian Branstetter

  • Sketchy Pharmacies Are Selling Hormones to Transgender People (2016)

Garrett Epps

  • How Birth Certificates Are Being Weaponized Against Trans People (2018)

Ashley Fetters

  • How Pediatricians Fail Gender-Nonconforming Kids (2018)

Lori Gottlieb

  • Dear Therapist: I Love My Trans Daughter, but I’m Still Struggling (2020)

Emma Green

  • The Culture War Over ‘Pregnant People’ (2021)

Jenny Hall

  • Coming Out as Transgender Made Me a More Effective CIA Officer (2017)

Andrea James

  • Why Is Elle Fanning Taking a Role From a Transgender Actor? (2014)

Robyn Kanner

I Detransitioned. But Not Because I Wasn’t Trans.

Ronald J. Krotoszynski, Jr.

  • The War on Trans Kids Is Totally Unconstitutional (2021)

Thomas Page McBee

  • Why Is the Media So Worried About the Parents of Trans Kids? (2018)

Tey Meadow

  • The Loaded Language Shaping the Trans Conversation (2018)

Hanna Rosin

  • SHOULD CHILDREN HAVE SEX CHANGES? [cover headline]
  • A Boy’s Life (2008)
  • https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/11/a-boys-life/307059/

Jesse Singal

  • When a Child Says She’s Trans (2018)
    • Editors took the unprecedented step of publishing a series of responses (Kanner, McBee, Meadow, Urquhart)

Matt Thompson

  • How to Spark Panic and Confusion in Three Tweets (2019)

Bryony White

  • The Link Between Autism and Trans Identity (2016)

Evan Urquhart

  • My Parents Still Struggle to Know Me After I Transitioned Late (2018)

Ed Yong

  • Young Trans Children Know Who They Are (2019)
  • The Transgender Scientist Who Changed How We See the Brain (2018)

Resources

The Atlantic (theatlantic.com)

The 2023 Statement Regarding Laws Restricting Gender Affirming Medical Care was published in response to state and federal anti-transgender legislation proposed in the United States.

That anti-trans legislation was shaped by these practitioners litigating their views in the mainstream media.

The statement has two key points:

  1. “Gender affirming medical care is important and beneficial for many transgender youth.”
  2. “We do not support laws restricting access to gender affirmative care.”

After it was published, the statement was not covered in the mainstream media.

Original signatories

  • Diane Chen, psychologist
  • Aaron Devor, sociologist
  • Alex Iantaffi, family therapist
  • David Inwards-Breland, pediatrician
  • Laura Kuper, psychologist
  • Scott Leibowitz, psychiatrist
  • Arlene Lev, social worker
  • Ximena Lopez, endocrinologist
  • G. Nic Rider, psychologist
  • Stephen M. Rosenthal, endocrinologist
  • Colt St. Amand, family medicine
  • John Strang, psychologist
  • Amy C. Tishelman, psychologist
  • Melina Wald, psychologist

Resources

Statement Regarding Laws Restricting Gender Affirming Medical Care (gamcstatement.org)

In 2022, New York Times writers Megan Twohey and Christina Jewett co-wrote a scaremongering article on puberty blockers for gender diverse youth that culminated in a 2023 newsroom revolt against Times leadership.

The article promoted and popularized several anti-trans talking points about gender affirming care for minors, including “bone density” and “low quality evidence.”

The piece is part of a strategy by anti-trans hate groups like Genspect to get FUD propaganda (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) about gender affirming care into mainstream media. Focusing on uncommon side effects and unknown risks is a long-used pretense to restrict or ban similar healthcare like contraception and abortion, especially for minors.

Background

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, 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.

Headlines used for the story include:

  • They Paused Puberty, but Is There a Cost?
  • Puberty Blockers Can Help Transgender Youth. Is There a Cost?

Below are anti-trans talking points that were promoted and popularized via this article.

Bone density

Puberty involves a release of hormones that affect bone deposition throughout the body. Puberty blockers affect that process, so bone health is monitored in adolescent patients, usually with a baseline measurement before treatment followed by scheduled measurements.

One of the three young people profiled had to stop puberty blockade due to done density issues. While this is a well-known risk and uncommon side effect, it can usually be monitored and managed. Having to stop hormone blockade altogether due to bone density is rare.

Via USPATH/WPATH:

The anecdote provided of an adolescent who began, and then stopped pubertal suppression due to bone density loss lacks important details, including age and pubertal stage at initiation of puberty blockers, length of time on blockers, baseline bone density (“Z-score”), and whether the bone density comparison was made to identified gender or birth-assigned sex. Additional important information not provided includes calcium intake, and vitamin D intake and level, as well as level of physical activity, all of which play a substantial role in maintenance of bone mineral density.

“Low-quality evidence”

Jewett and Twohey also parrot the “low-quality evidence” claim put forth by anti-trans activists, based on a scale devised by Gordon Guyatt. Federal judge Sarah E. Geraghty rejected these claims in a 2023 Georgia case where anti-trans activists Paul Hruz, Michael Laidlaw, and James Cantor testified against Yale University professor of pediatrics Meredithe McNamara:

The undisputed record shows that clinical medical decision-making, including in pediatric or adolescent medicine, often is not guided by evidence that would qualify as “high quality” on the scales used by Defendants’ experts. 30 (Doc. 70-1, McNamara Decl. ¶¶ 23–28; Tr. 74:11–75:1 (McNamara Testimony); Tr. 133:614 (Hruz Testimony).) In fact, the record shows that less than 15 percent of medical treatments are supported by “high-quality evidence,” or in other words that 85 percent of evidence that guides clinical care, across all areas of medicine, would be classified as “low-quality” under the scale used by Defendants’ experts. (Doc. 70-1, McNamara Decl. ¶ 25; Tr. 74:11–75:1.) Defendants do not refute Dr. McNamara’s testimony on this point, and indeed they “concede” that “low-quality” evidence “can be considered.” 31

Geraghty (2023) [emphasis mine]

Geraghty also noted the obvious biases of Hruz, Laidlaw and Cantor:

Defendants’ experts’ insistence on a very high threshold of evidence in the context of claims about hormone therapy’s safety and benefits, and on the other hand their tolerance of a much lower threshold of evidence for claims about its risks, the likelihood of desistance and/or regret, and their notions about the ideological bias of a medical establishment that largely disagrees with them. That is cause for some concern about the weight to be assigned to their views, although the Court does not doubt that those they express are genuinely held.

(“Dr. [Paul] Hruz fended and parried questions and generally testified as a deeply biased advocate, not as an expert sharing relevant evidence-based information and opinions. I do not credit his testimony.”); Eknes-Tucker v. Marshall, 603 F. Supp. 3d 1131, 1142–43 (M.D. Ala. 2022) (explaining that the court gave Dr. James Cantor’s “testimony regarding the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors very little weight”); C. P. by & through Pritchard v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, No. 3:20-CV-06145-RJB, 2022 WL 17092846, at *4 (W.D. Wash. Nov. 21, 2022) (noting that it was a “close question” as to whether Dr. Michael Laidlaw was qualified to testify about the medical necessity of gender-affirming care because he has treated only two patients with gender dysphoria and has done no original research on gender identity).

Geraghty (2023)

Mentioned

  • Emma Basques (gender diverse youth), Emma’s doctor, and parents Cherise and Arick
  • Jacy Chavira  (gender diverse youth)
  • [unnamed] (gender diverse youth and parent)
  • Norman Spack, endocrinologist
  • Sundeep Khosla, bone researcher
  • Hilary Cass, pediatrician
  • Catherine Gordon
    • We were surprised to see reference to a subjective statement from Dr. Catherine Gordon, MD regarding “getting behind” on bone density, and we question whether this comment was taken out of context. Dr. Gordon is a long-standing advocate for trans youth care, and in her June 2022 single-author commentary published in Pediatrics, she stated that, “The duration of pubertal suppression with gonadotropin hormone releasing hormone agonists varies, but can extend up to 4 years for younger patients who are not able to provide consent until age 16 for receipt of gender-affirming therapy. Puberty blockers represent an invaluable intervention for these children and adolescents, to reduce anxiety and ‘buy time’ until final decisions can be made about gender assignment.” A subsequent commentary co-authored by Dr. Gordon and published in November 2022 in JAMA Open Access stated, “Concerns about skeletal losses become less significant in an adolescent with active suicidal ideations. Although the significance of the risks may be unclear, there is strong evidence regarding the benefits of GnRHa in transgender youth: it can be a life-changing and lifesaving treatment for a vulnerable population who is at high risk for anxiety, depression, and suicide.”
  • Peggy Cohen-Kettenis, psychologist
  • WPATH
  • Walter Meyer, pediatric endocrinologist and psychiatrist
  • Jenn Burleton
  • American Academy of Pediatrics and the international Endocrine Society, which in 2017 had described the limited research on the effects of the drugs on trans youth as “low-quality.” 
  • more than 50 doctors and academic experts around the world
  • Models: Dutch, US, UK, Sweden, Finland

Supporters

Critics

  • WPATH and USPATH
  • GLAAD
  • Melissa Gira Grant of New Republic
  • Erin Reed of Erin in the Morning
  • Kate Sosin of 19th News
  • Molly Redden of HuffPost
  • Trans author Jennifer Finney Boylan
  • Christina Cauterucci, Jules Gill-Peterson, and Bryan Lowder in Slate
  • Kaiyti Duffy in Teen Vogue
  • Erin Rook in LGBTQ Nation
  • AJ Eckert in Science Based Medicine
  • Trans journalist Dawn Ennis
  • Child psychiatrist Jack Turban

References

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 [archive]

WPATH / USPATH (November 22, 2022). USPATH and WPATH Respond to NY Times Article “They 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%20CORRECTION.pdf

GLAAD (February 14, 2023). 180+ journalists, New York Times contributors call out biased coverage of transgender people in joint letter as 100+ organizations and notables echo call, citing pattern of inaccurate, harmful trans coverage in the New York Times https://glaad.org/releases/new-york-times-contributors-call-out-biased-coverage-of-transgender-people-in-joint-letter/

2022 NYT story links

  • The Mental Health of Transgender Youth: Advances in Understanding Maureen D. Connolly, M.D. î„ź  ‱ Marcus J. Zervos, M.D. ‱ Charles J. Barone II, M.D. ‱ Christine C. Johnson, Ph.D. ‱ Christine L.M. Joseph, Ph.D. Published:August 18, 2016‱DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.06.012‱
  • Jody L. Herman Senior Scholar of Public Policy Andrew R. Flores Affiliated Scholar Kathryn K. O’Neill Policy Analyst How Many Adults and Youth Identify as Transgender in the United States? June 2022 https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/trans-adults-united-states/
  • Cass Review Interim report: Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People -https://cass.independent-review.uk/publications/interim-report/
  • Public consultation Interim service specification for specialist gender dysphoria services for children and young people 20 October 2022 -https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/specialised-commissioning/gender-dysphoria-services/supporting_documents/B1937iiInterimservicespecificationforspecialistgenderdysphoriaservicesforchildrenandyoungpeople22.pdf
  • Emily Bazelon https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/magazine/gender-therapy.html
  • Azeen Ghorayshi https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/health/florida-gender-care-minors-medical-board.html
  • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6647755/
  • Johanna Olson-Kennedy, MD,corresponding author1 Yee-Ming Chan, MD, PhD,2 Robert Garofalo, MPH, MD,3 Norman Spack, MD,2 Diane Chen, PhD,4 Leslie Clark, PhD,1 Diane Ehrensaft, PhD,5 Marco Hidalgo, PhD,1 Amy Tishelman, PhD,2 and Stephen Rosenthal, MD5 Impact of Early Medical Treatment for Transgender Youth: Protocol for the Longitudinal, Observational Trans Youth Care Study JMIR Res Protoc. 2019 Jul; 8(7): e14434. Monitoring Editor: Gunther Eysenbach; Reviewed by James Lykens and Adrienne Pichon. doi: 10.2196/14434
  • CHAD TERHUNE, ROBIN RESPAUT, and MICHELLE CONLIN (Oct. 6, 2022). https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-care/
  • Dani Blum (July 18, 2022). -https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/18/well/live/endometriosis-symptoms-treatment.html
  • Putting numbers on the rise in children seeking gender care By ROBIN RESPAUT and CHAD TERHUNE Filed Oct. 6, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-data/
  • GORDON, CATHERINE M Skeletal Health and Bone Marrow Composition Among Youth Project Number 5R01HD101421-03 Contact PI/Project Leader .Other PIs Awardee Organization BOSTON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL https://reporter.nih.gov/search/VccdwST9P0yW2AM-BR598g/project-details/10401768
  • Uppdrag granskning Mission: Investigate: Trans children -https://www.svtplay.se/video/33358590/uppdrag-granskning/mission-investigate-trans-children-avsnitt-1?info=visa
  • ,Stephen M. Rosenthal, M.D. statement-https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/rosenthal-in-alabama-court-case/f616e90a9b4bfe2d/full.pdf
  • Rick Rojas https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/14/us/alabama-transgender-law.html
  • Consensus Parameter: Research Methodologies to Evaluate Neurodevelopmental Effects of Pubertal Suppression in Transgender Youth Diane Chen, John F. Strang, Victoria D. Kolbuck, Stephen M. Rosenthal, Kim Wallen, Deborah P. Waber, Laurence Steinberg, Cheryl L. Sisk, Judith Ross, Tomas Paus, Sven C. Mueller, Margaret M. McCarthy, Paul E. Micevych, Carol L. Martin, Baudewijntje P.C. Kreukels, Lauren Kenworthy, 
 See all authors  Published Online:11 Dec 2020https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2020.0006
  • Consensus Parameter: Research Methodologies to Evaluate Neurodevelopmental Effects of Pubertal Suppression in Transgender Youth Diane Chen, John F. Strang, Victoria D. Kolbuck, Stephen M. Rosenthal, Kim Wallen, Deborah P. Waber, Laurence Steinberg, Cheryl L. Sisk, Judith Ross, Tomas Paus, Sven C. Mueller, Margaret M. McCarthy, Paul E. Micevych, Carol L. Martin, Baudewijntje P.C. Kreukels, Lauren Kenworthy, Megan M. Herting, Agneta Herlitz, Ira R.J. Hebold Haraldsen, Ronald Dahl, Eveline A. Crone, Gordon J. Chelune, Sarah M. Burke, Sheri A. Berenbaum, Adriene M. Beltz, Julie Bakker, Lise Eliot, Eric Vilain, Gregory L. Wallace, Eric E. Nelson, and Robert Garofalo-https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/trgh.2020.0006
  • http://admin.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2022/longer-treatment-with-puberty-delaying-medication-leads-to-lower-bone-mineral-density -https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9624627/
  • “Bone Mass in Young Adulthood Following Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Analog Treatment and Cross-Sex Hormone Treatment in Adolescents With Gender Dysphoria,” Klink et. al, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2015
  • “Effect of Pubertal Suppression and Cross-Sex Hormone Therapy on Bone Turnover Markers and Bone Mineral Apparent Density (BMAD) in Transgender Adolescents,” Vlot et. al, Bone, 2017 
  • “The Effect of GnRH Analogue Treatment on Bone Mineral Density in Young Adolescents With Gender Dysphoria: Findings From a Large National Cohort,” Joseph et. al, Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2019
  • “Physical Changes, Laboratory Parameters and Bone Mineral Density During Testosterone Treatment in Adolescents With Gender Dysphoria,” Stoffers et. al, The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2019
  • “Bone Development in Transgender Adolescents Treated With GnRH Analogues and Subsequent Gender-Affirming Hormones,” Schagen et. al, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2020
  • “Short-Term Outcomes of Pubertal Suppression in a Selected Cohort of 12- to 15-Year-Old Young People With Persistent Gender Dysphoria in the U.K.,” Carmichael et. al, PLOS One, 2021
  • “Pubertal Suppression, Bone Mass and Body Composition in Youth With Gender Dysphoria,” Navabi et. al, Pediatrics, 2021

Mother Jones is an American media organization. Their coverage is consistently supportive of trans and gender diverse people.

Background

Mother Jones was founded in 1976 by self-proclaimed activist journalist Paul Jacobs.

Mother Jones was published by the nonprofit Foundation for National Progress until 2024, when it merged with The Center for Investigative Reporting.

Resources

Mother Jones (motherjones.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Reveal News (revealnews.org)

  • Center for Investigative Reporting (centerforinvestigativereporting.org) [archive]

Transparency is a podcast that promotes conservative and anti-transgender views.

note: for the trans-focused podcast hosted by Shelbe Chang, Shane Ivan Nash, Jessie McGrath, and Blossom C. Brown, see Transparency.

Background

Transparency is hosted by conservative trans activists Aaron Kimberly and Aaron Terrell of Gender Dysphoria Alliance.

Episodes

  • Gender Ideologies – with Helen Pluckrose Mar 10, 2024
  • Trouble with Gender – with Alex Byrne Mar 03, 2024
  • It’s Okay to be a Man – with NJada Feb 25, 2024
  • The Shaman Brain – with Courtney Coulson Feb 18, 2024
  • Another Whistle Blown – with Tamara Pietzke Feb 11, 2024
  • The New York Times ”Opinion” Piece & USPATH’s ”Medical” Conference – with Eliza Mondegreen Feb 04, 2024
  • Autogynephilosophy – with Ray Alex Williams Dec 03, 2023
  • A Brief History of Trans (2023)
  • EP75 – Enabled and Embedded – with Helen Joyce Oct 09, 2023
  • EP74 – Taking Stock at Tavistock – With Anastassis Spiliadis & Dr Anna Hutchinson Sep 24, 2023
  • EP73 – Exploring The Unexpected Penis – with Amanda Kovattana Aug 20, 2023
  • EP72 – Backpedaling Pediatrics – with Dr Julia Mason Aug 13, 2023
  • The Denton Report – with Jamie Reed Aug 07, 2023
  • Managing Dysphoria without Transition – with “Anna” Jul 30, 2023
  • The old hippie soul, on Transsexual Unity – Guest: “Marc” Jul 23, 2023
  • EP68 – The silent majority begins to speak – with “Daniel”
  • EP67 – The Butch Lesbian to Gay Man Pipeline Jul 02, 2023
  • Special Series – National Transgender Health Summit – Ep. 3 – American Psychological Association
  • Special Series – National Transgender Health Summit – Ep. 2 – Dr Karasic Jun 04, 2023
  • Special Series – National Transgender Health Summit – Ep. 01 – Dr. Diane Ehrensaft May 28, 2023
  • EP66 – AAP: Aaron, Aaron & Phil Jun 11, 2023
  • EP65 – National Transgender Health Summit 2023 May 14, 2023
  • EP64 – When Dad Became Joan – with Cath Lloyd Apr 23, 2023
  • EP63 – Sexology in Samoa – with Dr Paul Vasey Apr 10, 2023
  • EP62 – The Autism Connection – with Christina Buttons Apr 02, 2023
  • EP61 – Soft Spoken. Soft hearts – with Julia Malott Mar 26, 2023
  • EP60 – The sound a whistle makes – with Jamie Reed Mar 19, 2023
  • EP59 – Internalizing/externalizing GNC – With Zander Keig Mar 05, 2023
  • What is Gender Dysphoria?
  • EP58 – A Serenity Prayer for TRAs – With Laura Hobbs Feb 26, 2023
  • EP57 – The Eunuch Makers – With “Eliza Mondegreen” Feb 19, 2023
  • EP56 – The Cost of Transparency Feb 12, 2023
  • EP55 – Autohetero – with Phil Illy Feb 05, 2023
  • EP54 – A bandaid on a broken leg – with Torren Danowski Jan 29, 2023
  • EP53 – Back up the rabbit hole – with KC Miller Jan 22, 2023
  • EP52 – Contagious, Like Laughter – with Lisa Marchiano  Jan 15, 2023
  • EP51- Binning Non-Binary – with Kiyah Jan 08, 2023

2022 episodes

  • EP50 – Good Therapy in the Age of Cancel Culture – with Dr Kenneth Zucker Oct 02, 2022
  • EP49 – What the @$%! WPATH?! Sep 25, 2022
  • EP48 – Gays Against Gr*mers – with Matt Rey Sep 11, 2022
  • EP47 – It’s Ms. Watson, thank-you – with Sinead Watson Sep 05, 2022
  • EP46 – Owning Male Femininity – with Shape Shifter Aug 29, 2022
  • EP45 – Me without the “T” – with Mars Fernandez Aug 21, 2022
  • EP44 – Questions and Answers Aug 14, 2022
  • EP43 – The Bubble Will Burst – with Shannon Boschy Aug 07, 2022
  • What is homosexual gender dysphoria?
  • EP42 – Identifying Toxic Ideas – with Frederik Ribersson Jul 17, 2022
  • EP41 – Ask Hard Questions: With “Stillman Cray” Jul 10, 2022
  • EP40 – I should send them a fruit basket – with Katie Herzog Jul 03, 2022
  • EP39 – The Only Autogynephile – Debbie Hayton  Jun 26, 2022
  • EP38 – Heterodorx of the TERF-Tranny Alliance – With Corinna Cohn May 07, 2022
  • EP37 – Disability & Dysphoria – with Jayme May 01, 2022
  • EP36 – The Two Boomerangs of AGP – with Kristina [Strawberry Lemonade Kristina]
  • EP35 – GNC in Rural Germany – with Julian Apr 17, 2022
  • EP34 – Internalized Transphobia? Apr 10, 2022
  • EP33 – How to look like a butch lesbian – with Renee Sullivan Apr 03, 2022
  • EP32 – Creating LGBT Dignity in Uganda – with Severus Hama-Owamparo Mar 27, 2022
  • EP31- A Good Bad Craic – with Stella O’Malley Mar 20, 2022
  • EP30 – Dysphoria and Differential Diagnosis – with Addison Mar 14, 2022
  • EP29 – Embracing Trans Reality – with Miyoko Mar 06, 2022
  • EP28 – Made By History – with Alice Dreger Feb 27, 2022
  • EP27 – Culture, Class, and the Bakla – with Rod Fleming Feb 20, 2022
  • EP26 – Light Reading for Grandparents – With Dr Michael Bailey Feb 13, 2022
  • EP25 – The Reason of the Middle – with Kathleen Stock Feb 06, 2022
  • EP24 – The Power of Suggestion – with Sasha Ayad Jan 30, 2022
  • EP23 – Autoandrophilia Files – With Laura Reynolds Jan 23, 2022
  • EP22 – Tumblr Trans – with Helena Kerschner Jan 16, 2022

2021 episodes

  • EP21 – Tomboy: with Lisa Selin Davis Dec 19, 2021
  • EP20 – What a mess WPATH! Dec 12, 2021
  • EP19 – Splintered Ego: AGP – with Limpida Nov 28, 2021
  • EP18 – What is Gender Dysphoria? With Dr Ray Blanchard Nov 21, 2021
  • EP17 – ROGD & Detransition Research: with Dr Lisa Littman Nov 14, 2021
  • EP 71 – The Denton Report – with Jamie Reed Aug 07, 2023
  • EP 70 – Managing Dysphoria without Transition – with Anna Jul 30, 2023
  • EP 69 – The old hippie soul, on Transsexual Unity – Guest: Marc Jul 23, 2023
  • EP 16 – Right Mind, Wrong Spectrum: With Michelle Alleva Nov 07, 2021
  • EP 15 – Okapi versus clarity: A conversation with Luke Oct 31, 2021
  • EP 14 – Buck Angel: Trans in the Peak Parade Oct 24, 2021
  • EP 13 – Cynthia: A Woman’s Choice to Not Medicalize Gender Oct 17, 2021
  • EP 12 – Golden Calves & Holy Priests: A Conversation with Cat Oct 10, 2021
  • EP 11 – Carole Hooven – Testosterone Oct 02, 2021
  • EP 10 – Viewer Q&A Sep 26, 2021
  • EP 09 – Dysphoria is so GAY! With Arty and Robbie Sep 12, 2021
  • EP 08 – Lauren Black – Dysphoria is manageable
is there a cure for cancel culture? Sep 05, 2021
  • EP 07 – Mars Fernandez on packers and what needs unpacking Aug 30, 2021
  • EP 06 – Lisa Shupe – What’s Hiding Under Gender Dysphoria? Aug 26, 2021
  • EP 05 – The Legal Fiction of Transition with Kenneth Pirie and “Kevin” Aug 26, 2021
  • EP 04 – Single Sex Spaces with Janet Scott Aug 26, 2021
  • EP 03 – Autogynephilia with Kenneth Pirie and Scott Newgent Aug 26, 2021
  • EP 02 – Measuring Medical Transition Outcomes with Kenneth Pirie and Scott Newgent Aug 25, 2021
  • EP 01 – Gender Ideology versus Gender Dysphoria Aug 25, 2021




Julian Vigo is an author and sex segregationist involved in gender critical activism.

Podcast

Vigo’s Savage Minds podcast often features activists in the gender critical movement. Guests include:

Resources

Savage Minds (savageminds.substack.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Lubellule / disfasia (lubellule.com)

Forbes (forbes.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

FundRazr (fundrazr.com)

Quillette (quillette.com)

Public Discourse (thepublicdiscourse.com)

The Sunday Times is a conservative British publication.

In 2022, they published a letter to the editor by conservative and anti-trans activists who oppose medical consensus for trans youth healthcare. It was titled “Press pause on Conversion Therapy Bill.” The bill would make non-affirming models of care illegal.

Signatories

Additional signers

  • Shahrar Ali, former deputy leader, Green Party
  • Martin Daubney, Deputy Leader of the Reclaim Party
  • Belinda de Lucy, commentator
  • Paola Diana, entrepreneur
  • Laura Dodsworth, writer
  • Kathleen Dooley
  • Jessica Fishburn, parent advocate
  • Laurence Fox, Leader of the Reclaim Party
  • Mary Garner, counsellor
  • Dr Az Hakeem, consultant psychiatrist and medical psychotherapist
  • Milli Hill, author
  • Dr Zoe Hollowood, Chair, Liberal Voice for Women
  • Jude Hunter, Genspect representative
  • Alison Jenner, Vice Chair, Liberal Voice for Women
  • Christina Jordan, former MEP
  • The Earl of Leicester
  • Juliet Line, mother
  • Graham Linehan, writer
  • Claire Lonergan, parent
  • Julia Mason, paediatrician
  • Lucy Masoud, barrister
  • Dr Julie Maxwell, community paediatrician
  • Maggie Mellon, founding member, Evidence Based Social Work Alliance
  • Harry Miller, ‘Fair Cop’
  • Professor Michele Moore
  • Baroness Morris of Yardley
  • Cheryl Lavinia Mulholland, psychotherapist
  • Dame Jenni Murray, broadcast journalist
  • Simon Myerson QC
  • Terry Patterson, psychodynamic counsellor
  • Alexandra Phillips, GB News presenter
  • Timothy Pitt-Payne QC
  • Calvin Robinson, commentator
  • Nigel Scott, secretary, Liberal Voice for Women
  • Maggie Siviter, social worker, children’s safeguarding
  • Dr Jacci Stoyle, former prison teacher
  • Evelyn Strasburger, parent
  • Lachlan Stuart, policy manager
  • Anna Telford, parent
  • Dr Val Thomas, psychotherapist, writer and co-founder of Critical Therapy Antidote
  • Leonore Tiefer, retired NYS licensed clinical psychologist
  • Gawain Towler, political consultant
  • Lisa Townsend, Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey
  • Iris Walker, Councillor for Westhill and District
  • Lord Wasserman
  • SinĂ©ad Watson, Genspect advisor
  • James Wells, former MEP
  • Robert Withers, Jungian psychoanalyst
  • Susan Zamecnik, registered nurse

References

Signatories (April 10, 2022) Press pause on Conversion Therapy Bill. The Sunday Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/press-pause-on-conversion-therapy-bill-g7vbtvc7h

Substack is a subscription newsletter publishing platform that is the service of choice for anti-transgender activists and media figures. The New Republic describes its power base as “white male contrarians with a talent for Twitter theatrics.”

Substack allows writers to make a living attacking trans people without the oversight or accountability that is in place at reputable media outlets. Substack also profits from promotion of other medical misinformation and conspiracy theories.

Background

Substack was founded in 2017 by Chris Best, Jairaj Sethi, and Hamish McKenzie.

The platform’s strategy for growth was based on inviting the most histrionic verified Twitter users to create newsletters.

Substacks with anti-trans content

The authors below have published generally anti-trans content on Substack:

Substacks with pro-trans content

The authors below publish generally pro-trans content on Substack:

Former Substacks

Substack Pro controversy

In March 2021, Substack revealed it paid advances for writers to create publications on its platform via a program called Substack Pro. The lack of transparency about this program and who had been paid led to widespread criticism.

Shortly before Jesse Singal’s 2021 book release, Singal’s Substack newsletter become a cause cĂ©lĂšbre among the platform’s favored user base: “those who have already been well-served by existing media power structures.” The secretive Substack Pro program was accused of “perpetuating some of the industry inequities it claims to solve,” favoring these types of writers by luring them to the platform with large monetary advances. Substack had become the service of choice for several other prominent critics of the trans rights movement, “largely white, male contrarians with a talent for Twitter theatrics.”

On March 17, 2021, Adweek’s Mark Stenberg discussed Singal’s role in generating protests about Substack Pro:

Substack has drawn criticism for offering safe harbor to a number of writers, including writers Andrew Sullivan, Jesse Singal and Glenn Greenwald, whose opinions on issues surrounding race, transgender rights and censorship have been condemned by marginalized communities.

Stenberg, 2021

Singal has a long history of “sealioning,” a type of trolling via persistent requests, whenever Singal’s biased views about trans people are reported in the media. Singal will pursue all available avenues to get these reports modified or removed altogether. Following a “stealth edit,” Singal’s name was quietly removed from Adweek’s original text so it read “including some whose politics have been condemned by marginalized communities.” Even that was later removed.

Confirmed Pro deals

  • Matt Yglesias
  • Anne Helen Peterson
  • Casey Newton
  • Scott Alexander
  • Freddie deBoer
  • Nicholas Jackson
  • Ashley Feinberg
  • Grace Lavery
  • Alexis Coe

Unconfirmed/other

References

Lorenz, Taylor (October 28, 2024). How Substack’s follow feature betrays its original mission. User Mag https://www.usermag.co/p/how-substacks-follow-feature-betrays

Chang, Clio (Winter 2020). The Substackerati: Did a newsletter company create a more equitable media system—or replicate the flaws of the old one? https://www.cjr.org/special_report/substackerati.php

McKenzie, Hamish (March 12, 2021). “Why we pay writers”. Substack Blog. https://blog.substack.com/p/why-we-pay-writers

Paulas, Rick (March 14, 2021) Who are the Substack Pros? Investigating Substack https://domstack.substack.com/p/who-are-the-substack-pros

Silverman, Jacob (March 16, 2021). Facebook Has Found a New Way to Ruin Media. The New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/article/161736/facebook-found-new-way-ruin-media

Stenberg, Mark (March 17, 2021). Substack Pro Leads to Departures From Platform, Opportunities for Competitors. Adweek. https://www.adweek.com/media/having-a-substack-feels-dirty-substack-pro-announcement-leads-to-departures-from-the-platform-opportunities-for-competitors/

Wiener, Anna (28 December 2020). Is Substack the Media Future We Want? The New Yorker. Retrieved 11 February 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/01/04/is-substack-the-media-future-we-want

Resources

Substack (substack.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Frieda Klotz is an Irish-American writer and anti-transgender activist. Klotz launders anti-trans extremism about gender diverse youth into mainstream media outlets. Klotz has been cited by American anti-trans organizations supporting legislation harming our children.

Background

Frieda Marie Klotz was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1977 to Margaret Klotz and Frederick S. “Fred” Klotz, an American mathematician who died when Frieda was a child in an April 1988 Dublin cycle accident.

Klotz studied ancient Greek, earning a bachelor’s degree from Fred Klotz’s former employer Trinity College, Dublin, in 2000. Klotz then continued at University of Oxford, earning a master’s degree in 2001 and a doctorate in 2005. From 2005 to 2007 Klotz taught at King’s College London.

In 2007 Klotz began a long string of reviewing, editing, writing, fact-checking, and researching roles for Daily Telegraph, Euromoney, New York Times Syndicate, Irishcentral, journalism professor Susie Linfield, Salon, and New York Times Digital.

In 2011 Klotz co-edited The Philosopher’s Banquet with Katerina Oikonomopoulou. Klotz was then a contributor for The Chronicle Review, Forbes, Shimon Dotan at Roam Films, Irish Times, Prospect, The Guardian, Irish Echo, Irish Voice, the Irish Times, The Economist, MIT Sloan Management Review, Ireland’s Sunday Independent, and Diplomacy Dojo. Klotz has also written several white papers for the British government and the New York Times Company.

Klotz began attacking healthcare for transgender children while based in Brussels.

2022 Undark article

In 2022, Klotz began writing the first of many versions of the same article about gender diverse youth. These “cisgender person under siege” articles typically center a cisgender person as a hero facing assaults from “both sides.” For Klotz, the cis hero is Annelou de Vries and colleagues, and the two sides are:

  • Right-wing politicians, religious conservatives, and some health care associations are calling for medical treatment of teens to be banned or avoided if at all possible
  • Some activists and physicians say the protocol is too slow.

Klotz’s false equivalence between executing eliminationist policies and removing barriers to care is a hallmark of what biologist Julia Serano calls trans-suspicious reporting.

Klotz continues The Atlantic’s shameful leading role in “just asking questions.” This cognitive bias is called a framing effect. Here are Klotz’s questions:

But pediatric transgender medicine is a new field with a lot of questions yet to be answered by science. What is the long-term impact of blocking puberty on a young person’s health? Can practitioners correctly determine which youngsters will still identify as trans when they are adults? Do the psychological assessments contribute to children’s suffering by delaying access to puberty blockers and hormones? Why has the number of teens coming forward to receive transgender medical care, particularly those assigned female at birth, risen so dramatically in recent years?

Klotz then rattles off the litany of risks and complications recited by conservatives:

  • “desistance”
  • bone loss
  • brain development
  • genital atrophy (with an assumption of vaginoplasty)
  • medical consent
  • reproductive viability

For the “right-wing politicians, religious conservatives, and some health care associations” engaged in an assault on trans rights and autonomy we have a couple of sentences about:

  • The Heritage Foundation
  • Family Policy Alliance

All the usual suspects advocating “careful therapeutic assessments” and banning informed consent before age 26 are presented as the centrist position:

For the “some activists and physicians” side, we have:

  • Diane Ehrensaft
  • Diane Chen
  • VU Gender (Mis)Treatment
  • Jack Turban
  • Aidan Key
  • Florence Ashley

2023 Atlantic article

Klotz wrote the same article for The Atlantic the following year, but with Finland and Norway added as countries with concerns. This article tries to shore up an alleged clinical distinction between young children and “adolescent-onset gender dysphoria,” a euphemism for the fake disease “rapid-onset gender dysphoria.”

New clinicians

New journalists

  • Jan Kuitenbrouwer
  • Peter Vasterman
  • Kaya Bouma
  • Ellen de Visser

New activists and politicians

  • Michiel Verkoulen
  • Sam van den Berg

Response by Marieke Kuypers

A group of journalists have been hitting the same talking points as their English-speaking counterparts. As trans journalists and researchers work to stay on top of the flood of anti-transgender propaganda being being laundered into “centrist” publications, journalist Marieke Kuypers has given a first-blush overview of the Dutch political situation. Kuypers’ Twitter thread is below. More on this soon.

  • A quick thread for any English speakers about something I’ve been afraid of ever since the publication of a Dutch article about the Dutch Approach that was heavily biased. It’s been used as more evidence of this “increasing” concern in an Atlantic piece
  • Because I’ve been looking into anti-trans targeting of The Dutch Approach, I recognize the author. Frieda Klotz’s article on the same topic from last year was published on GLP, which is a Monsanto front – the article https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2022/06/27/transitioning-transgender-teenagers-are-not-new-this-dutch-clinic-has-been-doing-it-for-decades/

- GLP: https://sourcewatch.org/index.php/Genetic_Literacy_Project
  • The same article by Klotz on Undark, a website tied to GLP: https://undark.org/2022/04/06/the-evolution-of-pediatric-transgender-medicine/

About the link between Undark and GLP:
  • Kuitenbrouwer and Vasterman are not qualified to judge gender care. One is a media sociologist, the other a columnist. Kuitenbrouwer is rabidly transphobic, calling the “trans-movement bloodthirsty”. They were also on a Genspect sponsored podcast
  • For some of Kuitenbrouwer’s massively transphobic work, check out these articles:
  • Vasterman shared the Undark article by the same author as the Atlantic piece, Frieda Klotz in april last year
  • Uitstekend gedocumenteerd overzichtsverhaal over de oorsprong van the Dutch approach, wereldwijd overgenomen maar nu onder vuur: “A Dutch clinic pioneered transgender medical care for kids, shaping decades of research amid criticism from all sides.” https://undark.org/2022/04/06/the-evolution-of-pediatric-transgender-medicine/
  • To make the connection even more complete, Kuitenbrouwer apparently knew about the Volkskrant article before it was published, according to this tweet in which he says there’s an article coming about the Dutch approach. Did he influence the article? https://twitter.com/kuitenbrouwer/status/1627664286280519682?s=20
  • I also spoke to someone who was interviewed for the article and retracted their story once they read the article. The told me and I have evidence that the authors spoke to anti-trans activist Michael Biggs. How much influence did he have?
  • The influence of anti-trans groups does seem obvious, they even link to one in the Volkskrant article referencing SEGM as a “group of 120 doctors”. It does not have 120 members who are doctors, but about a dozen, amongst them Michael Biggs
  • “SEGM is an ideological organization without apparent ties to mainstream scientific organizations. Its 14 core members are a small group of repeat players in anti-trans activities – a fact that the SEGM website does not disclose” Volkskrant ook niet
  • The Volkskrant also talks to dr. Kaltiala who spread the debunked social contagion (ROGD) story and was a witness in Florida, and is linked to SEGM as well https://genderanalysis.net/entity/riittakerttu-kaltiala-heino/
  • Furthermore, the detransitioner in the story matches (same process, ages of treatment, same very specific story about a back surgery and the account proudly retweeted the article) the Twitter account of someone who was invited by anti-trans group Genspect to a detrans house
  • I’m rushing the analysis I was already writing about the Volkskrant article and how it was influenced by anti-trans groups and will try to publish a translated version as soon as possible and add it to this thread once it’s finished.
  • Want to know what dr. De Vries thinks? Here are her own words in the book about the Dutch Approach by Alex Bakker:
  • This is a critical response to the article by the Dutch Transgender Network. They link to a pdf with extensive references, you can throw that in Google translate as well using the documents tab 
https://www-transgendernetwerk-nl.translate.goog/belangenorganisaties-trekken-aan-de-bel-over-onzorgvuldige-journalistiek/?_x_tr_sl=nl&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=nl&_x_tr_pto=wapp
  • Oh look Kuitenbrouwer seems to admit he “crossed paths” with the Dutch journalists. (I wasn’t sacked by the way, shows how reliable this guy’s info is)
  • Ahw I think he doesn’t like me so he blocked me. Here’s a screenshot
  • So apart from Vasterman &Kuitenbrouwer being unqualified & transphobic, Frieda Klotz fails to mention that contrary to the moral panic about the increase in “girls” (trans boys) in the most recent Dutch research (2022) the ratio has actually reversed to more trans women
  • You can find this recent research (in Dutch) here. Another interesting finding in light of the moral panic: years long waiting lists are causing mental distress (mostly in the form of depressive or suicidal feelings) for 70% of the group that was surveyed https://zorgvuldigadvies.nl/wp-content/upl

Klotz’s anti-trans writings

Klotz, Frieda (April 6, 2022). The fractious evolution of pediatric transgender medicine. Undark https://undark.org/2022/04/06/the-evolution-of-pediatric-transgender-medicine/

Klotz, Frieda (June 27, 2022). Transitioning transgender teenagers are not new. This Dutch clinic has been helping them for decades. Genetic Literacy Project https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2022/06/27/transitioning-transgender-teenagers-are-not-new-this-dutch-clinic-has-been-doing-it-for-decades/

Klotz, Frieda (March 24, 2023). Book review: Behind the demise of the Tavistock Gender Clinic. Undark https://undark.org/2023/03/24/book-review-time-to-think/

Klotz, Frieda (April 28, 2023). A teen gender-care debate is spreading across Europe. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2023/04/gender-affirming-care-debate-europe-dutch-protocol/673890/

References

Transgender Netwerk Nederland (March 10, 2023). Belangenorganisaties Trekken Aan De Bel Over Onzorgvuldige Journalistiek [Interest groups are sounding the alarm about careless journalism] https://www.transgendernetwerk.nl/belangenorganisaties-trekken-aan-de-bel-over-onzorgvuldige-journalistiek/

Irish Mathematical Society Bulletin 21 (December 1988), p. 6.

Resources

Frieda Klotz (friedaklotz.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Genetic Literacy Project (geneticliteracyproject.org)

WordPress (wordpress.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Muck Rack (muckrack.com)