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:
“We needed somebody who was deeply experienced at covering controversies in a panoramic way, who was experienced enough that they wouldn’t get intimidated or really shaken by some of the criticisms on Twitter and elsewhere.”
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 “biological woman” and “biological man” 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
- Women’s 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 Women’s 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 ‘identity wars.’ 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)
Twitter (twitter.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Purchase College (purchase.edu)
Facebook (facebook.com)
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)
Alex Capo is an American counselor and anti-transgender activist.
Capo was an invited speaker at a 2023 anti-trans conference organized by anti-transgender hate group Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine.
Resources
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Julie Maxwell is a British pediatrician and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Child Health Services, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Winchester, UK
Anti-trans activism
Via Trans Safety Network:
As recently as April 2021, NHS paediatrician Julie Maxwell was one of their “Clinical and Academic Advisors”. She was1, and is very open about working for Christian anti-LGBT and anti-abortion sex education charity LoveWise UK. Recordings of her training seminars for LoveWise are available publicly, where she offers to help push abstinence based and anti-LGBT sex education resources into secular schools.
Maxwell was also involved with a DVD campaign run by Creationist science think tank Truth In Science sent last year to every sitting MP and school on the so-called “Transgender Agenda”. We covered this last year when we heard about it originally. Creationism is the anti-scientific belief that humans were intelligently designed, and did not evolve as part of biological evolution.
Since 2012, Maxwell has also been, a director for the Family Education Trust, a religiously “family values” campaigning charity who promote anti-LGBT views and smacking children contrary to a growing body of evidence that children are harmed by the use of physical assault as a form of discipline. SEGM launched publicly in early 2020, and so far as we can tell Maxwell was part of their organisation from their inception.
References
Moore, Mallory (August 26, 2021). SEGM uncovered: large anonymous payments funding dodgy science. Trans Safety Network https://transsafety.network/posts/segm-uncovered/
Christopher Richards, Julie Maxwell, Noel McCune. Use of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria: a momentous step in the dark. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2018-315881
Julie Maxwell, Katherine Clyde, Lucy Griffin (2019). Gender dysphoria: a question of informed consent BMJ 2019; 367 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l6442
Media
Living Out (August 31, 2023). Thinking About Transgender feat. Dr. Julie Maxwell (Youth Leaders’ Crash Course #6). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THT_5OQ4g9o
Resources
Christian Action Research and Education (care.org.uk)
Henrik Anckarsäter was a Swedish psychologist and anti-transgender activist.
Anckarsäter was affiliated with anti-trans group Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine (SEGM) and with the Centre for Ethics, Law and Mental Health.
Background
Pär Henrik Georg Söderström was born October 12, 1966 in Göteborg, Sweden.
In 2005 Anckarsäter was appointed associate professor at Lund University, and in 2008 assumed a professorship in forensic psychiatry at the University of Gothenburg. Anckarsäter was also a visiting professor at the University of Paris XII from 2006 to 2007 and in the Department of Clinical Sciences at Lund University, Malmö, from 2009 to 2015.
Anckarsäter’s spouse is Rolf Anckarsäter. Anckarsäter died on March 9, 2021 in Askim, Sweden.
References
Staff (May 11, 2021). In memory of Henrik Anckarsäter. https://akademiliv.se/en/2021/05/74108/
Henrik Anckarsäter 1, Christopher Gillberg (2020). Methodological Shortcomings Undercut Statement in Support of Gender-Affirming Surgery. Am J Psychiatry. 2020 Aug 1;177(8):764-765. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.19111117
Resources
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Facebook (facebook.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Carole Sherwood is a British psychologist and anti-transgender activist.
Sherwood and Valerie Jean Thomas are associated with anti-trans group Critical Therapy Antidote.
Background
Carole Barbara Patricia Sherwood was born in February 1953.
Anti-transgender activism
Via the site Save Mental Health, Sherwood believes that “important areas of the behavioral sciences – in research, practice, and policy work – have been increasingly captured by censorious ideological orthodoxies.”
Save Mental Health lists other like-minded organizations:
- Academics for Academic Freedom (afaf.org.uk)
- BPSWatch (bpswatch.com)
- Campaign for Common Sense (campaigncommonsense.com)
- Centre for Male Psychology (centreformalepsychology.com)
- Counterweight (counterweightsupport.com)
- Critical Therapy Antidote (criticaltherapyantidote.org)
- Don’t Divide Us (dontdivideus.com)
- Free Speech Union (freespeechunion.org)
- Heterodox Academy (heterodoxacademy.org)
- The ManKind Initiative (mankind.org.uk)
- New Discourses (newdiscourses.com)
- Psychreg (psychreg.org)
- Society for Open Inquiry in Behavioral Science (openinquirybehavio.wixsite.com/oibs)
- Thoughtful Therapists (thoughtfultherapists.org)
References
Sherwood., Carole (November 2, 2022). The politicisation of clinical psychology. CIEO https://cieo.substack.com/p/the-politicisation-of-clinical-psychology
Carole Sherwood, Paul M. Salkovskis, Katharine Rimes Help-seeking for depression: The role of beliefs, attitudes and mood. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 10.1017/s1352465807003815
Retired Clinical Psychologist email: [email protected] Report: https://save-mental-health.com/training-courses/
Resources
Save Mental Health (save-mental-health.com)
Critical Therapy Antidote (criticaltherapyantidote.org)
YouTube (youtube.com)
Facebook (facebook.com)
Reddit (reddit.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 Women’s 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.
“Autogynephilia” activism
Some trans-attracted people who engage in “autogynephilia” activism wish to distance their own attractions from trans women they consider “autogynephiles.” In some cases, it is because they see “AGP” trans women as a threat to their “heterosexual” identity. They often brag about how “heterosexual” they are and how the “homosexual transsexual” people they desire are extremely feminine and only interested in masculine “heterosexual” partners like them.
Trans-attracted people who use the terms “homosexual transsexual” or “HSTS” are among the most obsessed with “autogynephilia” and creator Ray Blanchard’s taxonomy of “HSTS” and “AGP,” because it’s 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)
YouTube (youtube.com)
Plashmill Press (plashmill-press.com)
Instagram (instagram.com)
Patreon (patreon.com)
PayPal (paypal.com)
WordPress (wordpress.com)
Substack (substack.com)
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)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
Instagram (instagram.com)
Muck Rack (muckrack.com)
Paul Marshall is a British investor and anti-transgender activist. In 2017, Marshall gave funding to anti-transgender publication UnHerd.
Background
Paul Roderick Clucas Marshall was born on August 2, 1959. Marshall’s parent Alan was an executive based in the Philippines, but Marshall remained in England for school. Marshall earned degrees from St John’s College, Oxford and INSEAD.
In 1997 Marshall and Ian Wace founded a successful hedge fund. After many years supporting policies of Liberal Democrats, Marshall began funding conservative projects, including anti-trans publication UnHerd and anti-trans platform GB News.
Marshall and spouse Sabrina have two adult children.
Resources
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)