Tablet is a conservative online magazine that focuses on Jewish news and culture, Starting around 2018 Tablet started frequently platforming anti-transgender activists, including Jennifer Bilek, Phyllis Chesler, “Katherine Dee,” Carole Hooven, James Kirchick, Wilfred Reilly, Leor Sapir, Jennifer Sey, Bari Weiss, and Wesley Yang,
It is also one of the few publications that regularly publishes balanced trans coverage and writing by trans people, including conservative trans people. That coverage began diminishing around 2018.
Background
Tablet was founded as an online magazine in June 2009 by Alana Newhouse, a former culture editor at The Forward,
Tablet has featured profiles of anti-trans activists Meghan Daum, Jonathan Haidt, Joe Rogan, and Dave Rubin.
Podcasts
Tablet produced a podcast called Unorthodox from 2015 to 2024. Co-hosts included Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick, Liel Leibovitz, and Joshua Malina.
References
Bernstein, David (June 23, 2022). Is Jennifer Bilek’s article in Tablet antisemitic and transphobic? The Times of Israel https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/is-jennifer-bileks-article-in-tablet-antisemitic-and-transphobic/
Lieberman, Tucker (January 16, 2023). You’re Not My Type: Trans man explains dating preferences to cis man. Medium https://tuckerlieberman.medium.com/youre-not-my-type-cis-trans-dating-preferences-4464dc8043a9
Lieberman, Tucker (January 16, 2023). Saying ‘Cleareyed’ When You Mean ‘Exclusionary.’ Medium https://tuckerlieberman.medium.com/transphobic-exclusion-tablet-magazine-6f07d4586794
Lieberman, Tucker (February 9, 2023). Transphobia, Overt or Underhanded. Medium https://tuckerlieberman.medium.com/transphobia-overt-underhanded-ec8756a58300
Michkan Chicago (June 16, 2022 ). An Open Letter To Tablet Magazine. https://www.mishkanchicago.org/an-open-letter-to-tablet-magazine/
Selected anti-trans articles and episodes
Rootless with Liel Liebovitz and Jennifer Sey (February 13, 2025). Is This the End of Woke Capitalism?, With Jennifer Sey. https://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/rootless/rootless-jennifer-sey-xx-xy-rowling
Hooven, Carole (September 24, 2025). There Are Only Two Gametes: The gametic understanding of sex is consensus mainstream science that makes research and understanding possible across a variety of key fields. So why are professors at Harvard and Princeton and editors at ‘The Lancet’ framing it as bigotry? Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/science/articles/there-are-only-two-gametes
Liebovitz, Liel (September 8, 2025). Malcolm Gladwell’s Fake Apology: Jewish wisdom is clear about what repentance requires. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/malcolm-gladwell-fake-apology
Smith, Blake (September 11, 2024). Judith Butler vs. Judy! How the queer theorist went from celebrating ironic distance and deconstructing drag shows to straight-faced gender totalitarianism. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/judith-butler-vs-judy
MacDougald, Park; Lehrer, Adam (March 28, 2024). Anatomy of an ‘Anti-Trans’ Hoax. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/the-scroll/articles/march-28-2024-anatomy-of-an-anti
Weiss, Bari (November 7, 2023). End DEI: It’s not about diversity, equity, or inclusion. It is about arrogating power to a movement that threatens not just Jews—but America itself. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/end-dei-bari-weiss-jews
Kirchick, James (August 13, 2023). Pinkwashing the Thought Police: A movement devoted to equal rights for gays has been overtaken by ‘queers’ championing a censorship regime. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/pinkwashing-thought-police
Lind, Michael (July 31, 2023). The Culture of Transgression: Our antinomian elite’s war against tradition has become a war against the working class. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/culture-of-transgression
Kirchick, James (June 26, 2023). The Human Rights Campaign Invents an Emergency: And develops a new strategy for making minority groups permanent wards of the Democratic Party. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/manufactured-hysteria
Hooven, Carole (June 21, 2023). Academic Freedom Is Social Justice: Those of us who work in universities cannot allow polite fictions to be dressed up as facts. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/academic-freedom-social-justice
Redstone, Ilana (March 7, 2023). Actually, You Don’t Know That Much: The problem on campuses isn’t ‘wokeness’—it’s certainty. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/campuses-certainty-problem
Smith, Blake (March 26, 2023). The Inner Life of Gender: Can old, dead, gay, white French males save us from the West’s latest moral crusade? Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/gender-neutral
Moulton, David (March 9, 2023). The Great Transitioning: How gay men have gone from being outsiders to mascots for queer ideology. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/great-transitioning
Sapir, Leor (February 21, 2023). Finland Takes Another Look at Youth Gender Medicine. A recent interview with the country’s top gender expert shows how out of step the American medical establishment is with its European counterparts. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/science/articles/finland-youth-gender-medicine
Kirchick, James (February 21, 2023). Writers of the World, Denounce! Progressive activists repeat the sins of the past. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/writers-world-denounce-kirchick
Kirchick, James (November 10, 2022). Norah Vincent’s Gender Trouble: The late writer’s lessons on breaking the gender binary. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/norah-vincent-gender-trouble-jamie-kirchick
Lind, Michael (October 25, 2022). The New Gatekeepers: How the major institutions of American society all came to sing in the woke chorus, and what can be done about it. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/new-gatekeepers-woke-michael-lind
Chesler, Phyllis (September 14, 2022). Disinvited: The leadership of New York’s West End Synagogue is too committed to the ever-changing progressive party line to suffer a radical feminist like me. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/disinvited-west-end-synagogue-phyllis-chesler
MacDougald, Park; Lehrer, Adam (July 21, 2022). Rise of the Female-to-Female Transsexual: How Gen Z Bimbos are ‘queering’ femininity … or something like that. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/the-scroll/articles/rise-of-the-female-to-female-transsexual
Bilek, Jennifer (June 14, 2022). The Billionaire Family Pushing Synthetic Sex Identities (SSI): The wealthy, powerful, and sometimes very weird Pritzker cousins have set their sights on a new God-like goal: using gender ideology to remake human biology. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/billionaire-family-pushing-synthetic-sex-identities-ssi-pritzkers
Chesler, Phyllis (March 17, 2022). Woke Women’s Studies: A feminist conference at Barnard sounded promising but devolved into a conformist and incomprehensible discourse-fest. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/woke-womens-studies
Chau, Brian (January 18, 2022). The Rule of Midwits: A set of decentralized, ideologically driven selection mechanisms is propelling the decay and collapse of American institutions. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/rule-of-midwits
Reilly, Wilfred (January 12, 2022). The Idiocy of ‘Shared Oppression’: It’s not true, and betrays the reality of historical suffering. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/idiocy-shared-oppression
Chesler, Phyllis (August 4, 2021). The Progressive Erasure of Feminism: The radical feminist revolution has been hijacked. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/progressive-erasure-of-feminism
Rosen, Armin (May 5, 2021). Dave Rubin’s Locals: A new alternative to big tech platforms shows the creative benefits and costs of our radicalized moment. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/dave-rubin-locals-armin-rosen
Chesler, Phyllis (April 9, 2021). Woke Andrea Dworkin: Martin Duberman distorts the life and work of a pioneering feminist genius to make her more pleasing. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/woke-andrea-dworkin
Siegel, Jacob (November 4, 2020). Joe Rogan Is the Aleph: The massively popular podcast host provides a glimpse into Borges’ ‘multitudes of America.’ Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/joe-rogan-the-aleph
Siegel, Jacob (June 22, 2020). The New Truth: When the moral imperative trumps the rational evidence, there’s no arguing. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/new-truth-rationalism-religion
Weiss, Bari (October 14, 2020). Stop Being Shocked: American liberalism is in danger from a new ideology—one with dangerous implications for Jews. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/stop-being-shocked
Schmitz, Matthew (September 24, 2020). The Woke and the Un-Woke: How American politics is fast becoming a religious conflict between a hegemonic new faith and its multifarious foes. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/woke-religion-america
Clairmont, Nicholas (November 11, 2019). Meghan Daum’s ‘The Problem With Everything’: Is there room in the culture anymore for nuance? Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/meghan-daum-problem-with-everything
Yang, Wesley (September 24, 2019). America’s New Sex Bureaucracy: How campus Title IX courts’ guilty-until-proven-innocent subversion of due process is a harbinger of a dangerous wider shift in liberalism. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/americas-new-sex-bureaucracy
Kirchick, James (July 11, 2019). Transgendering Stonewall: The intersectional left revises the history of the gay rights struggle in service of a political agenda that finds virtue in marginalization. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/transgendering-stonewall
Yang, Wesley (October 18, 2018), The Emperor’s Woke Clothes. Campus Week: How did an elite, repressive minority policing speech and culture through political correctness come to browbeat the American democratic majority? Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/political-correctness-minority
Yang, Wesley (May 28, 2018). The Shocking Truth About Jordan Peterson: How the Twitter mobs choose their targets. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/jordan-peterson
Hammond, Gretchen Rachel (March 13, 2018). Divorcing the Transgender Community: I thought I’d found a warm and supportive home, but being Jewish made that difficult. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/divorcing-the-transgender-community
Yang, Wesley (February 26, 2018). The Bari Weiss Pile-On: How the micro-grievances of different immigrant classes reflect a broader problem in our conception of race in America. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/bari-weiss-mirai-nagasu
Gerber, Bex (January 18, 2018). I’m a Transgender Peace Activist Who Converted to Judaism. I Wasn’t Expecting My Fellow Progressives to Turn on Me. As soon as I put on the Star of David, I was accused of supporting apartheid by my former friends on the left. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/im-a-transgender-peace-activist-who-converted-to-judaism-i-wasnt-expecting-my-fellow-progressives-to-turn-on-me
Yang, Wesley (January 8, 2018). Henry Louis Gates Jr. Brilliantly Anticipated Today’s Illiberal Movement to Ban Hate Speech. A return to the early-1990s origins of victimization in identity politics, then—and now—a distraction from the real challenges of structural and institutional racism in America. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/henry-louis-gates-ban-hate-speech
Selected neutral/positive trans coverage
Gershon, Elliot S. (June 1, 2022). Let Everyone Freely Choose Their Gender and Race. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/let-everyone-freely-choose-their-gender-and-race
Bolton-Fasman, Judy (February 11, 2022). A Rabbi’s Grace: How Mike Moskowitz became LGBTQ Jews’ ‘radical progressive’ Orthodox advocate. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/rabbis-grace-mike-moskowitz
Sheinerman, Marie-Rose (January 14, 2021). Outside the Gender Binary: How nonbinary Jews navigate gendered spaces. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/outside-the-gender-binary
Levine, JB (June 24, 2020). My Nonbinary Journey: After years of confusion around my gender identity and sexuality, I realized I wasn’t gay or bisexual, or a man or a woman. And as I led my congregation through Yom Kippur services, I finally showed up as myself. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/my-nonbinary-journey
Jacobs, Paula (June 23, 2020). Transgender Rites: Creating practical guidelines for rituals around death and burial for transgender and nonbinary Jews. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/transgender-rites
Glidort, Shoshana (November 15, 2018). Torah, From a Transgender Perspective. Joy Ladin’s new book, ‘Soul of the Stranger,’ explores her intimate connection with God. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/torah-from-a-transgender-perspective
Borinsky, Agnes (June 24, 2019). Putting the Pieces Together: Since I came out as transgender, I’ve never felt more Jewish. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/putting-the-pieces-together
Leibovitz, Liel (July 25, 2018). Tel Aviv to Start New Office to Assist Transgender People in Finding Employment. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/tel-aviv-to-start-new-office-to-assist-transgender-people-in-finding-employment
Moskowitz, Mike; Marnin, Seth (June 8, 2018). What the Torah and Talmud Teach Us About Calling Transgender People by Their Names: Renaming ourselves in order to live our lives is a part of our own holy re-creation. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/what-the-torah-and-talmud-teach-us-about-calling-transgender-people-by-their-names
Ingall, Majorie (November 17, 2017). Transgender Jews Find a Place in the Mikveh: Traditional rituals have become more inclusive and embracing. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/belief/articles/transgender-jews-in-the-mikveh
Rosenberg, Yair (July 26, 2017). Trump Just Banned Transgender Soldiers, Claiming They Make Us Less Safe. Israel Begs to Differ. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/trump-just-banned-transgender-soldiers-claiming-they-make-us-less-safe-israel-begs-to-differ
Levy, Isaac (June 23, 2017). Transgender and Jewish: When I decided to physically transition from female to male, I didn’t consciously consider how my relationship to Judaism might change as a result. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/transgender-and-jewish
Benaim, Rachel Delia (April 4, 2017). Harvard Conference Examines Jewish Law and Trans Identity. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/harvard-conference-examines-jewish-law-and-trans-identity
Samuels, David (November 14, 2016). Q&A with Susan Faludi: For her latest book, the ‘haunting, urgent,’ ‘In the Darkroom,’ the reporter goes digging to find her father, a Holocaust survivor who became transgender—and unearths a meditation on American and American-Jewish identity in what turns out to be the Age of Trump. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/qa-with-susan-faludi
Aschenbrand, Periel (November 04, 2016). The Chosen Ones: An Interview With Joy Ladin. The writer and scholar on transgender issues in the Orthodox community, inclusion, and why Yom Kippur is her favorite Jewish holiday. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-chosen-ones-an-interview-with-joy-ladin
Ingall, Marjorie (August 12, 2016). How Jewish Camps Welcome LGBTQ Kids—and How They Don’t. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/jewish-camps-welcome-lgbtq-kids
Gerson, Merissa Nathan (June 20, 2016). Cutting Against the Bias: Yeshiva boy Daniel Friedman once built buildings. Now he builds suits to fit the changing bodies of transgender New Yorkers. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/cutting-against-the-bias
Zalman, Jonathan (March 15, 2016). White House Makes History, Hires First Transgender LGBT Liaison. Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, the first openly transgender staffer at the White House, will now serve as Outreach & Recruitment Director for Presidential Personnel. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/white-house-makes-history-hires-first-transgender-lgbt-liaison
Narin, Jordana (January 25, 2016). An Incredible Journey to Fatherhood: A recent profile of Rafi Daugherty, a transgender man who recently gave birth to a daughter, is a must-read. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/an-incredible-journey-to-fatherhood
Kaplan, Rose (January 21, 2016). Jennifer Pritzker’s Foundation Gives $2 Million for Transgender Studies at Canadian University. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/jennifer-pritzkers-foundation-gives-2-million-for-transgender-studies-at-canadian-university
Kaplan, Rose (January 21, 2016). Jennifer Pritzker’s Foundation Gives $2 Million for Transgender Studies at Canadian University. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/jennifer-pritzkers-foundation-gives-2-million-for-transgender-studies-at-canadian-university
Lambert, Josh (December 7, 2015). Pfefferman Family Matters: Why is a Jewish family at the center of a story about a transgender woman, in ‘Transparent’? Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/pfefferman-family-matters
Vaitsblit, Hannah (November 5, 2015). Reform Movement Passes Far-Reaching Resolution on Transgender Jews. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/reform-movement-passes-far-reaching-resolution-on-transgender-jews
Goldstein, Elissa (May 9, 2015). ‘Same Person, Different Package’ : A mother and son share their story of unconditional love. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/same-person-different-package
Ivry, Sara (March 27, 2015). Jewish Day School Embraces Transgender Teen: After Tom Sosnik came out as male, his rabbi created a new ceremony. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/jewish-day-school-embraces-transgender-teen
Ivry, Sara (November 19, 2014). Remembering a Pioneering Jewish Transgender Rights Activist: ‘Stone Butch Blues’ author Leslie Feinberg died this week at 65. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/remembering-a-pioneering-jewish-transgender-rights-activist
Pelled, Daniela (March 13, 2014). For Transgender Jews, a Visit to the Western Wall Holds Unique Symbolism. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/transgender-jews-visit-kotel
Magarik, Raphael (April 26, 2012). Gender Through a Jewish Lens: New memoirs by transgender authors Kate Bornstein and Joy Ladin illustrate the power of religion to shape how people construct their identities. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/gender-through-a-jewish-lens
Ivry, Sara (January 12, 2009). Her Body, Her Self: What it meant for one person, born male, to become a woman. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/her-body-her-self
Vider, Stephen (March 02, 2006). Mixed Metaphors: Transamerica’s heroine finds herself negotiating a number of identities. Tablet https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/mixed-metaphors
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