Instead of reporting on actual news, the New York Times goes after trans people again

And while there are many ways to make progress — from direct action (a “pee-in” at the Capitol in protest the targeting of Rep. Sarah McBride, perhaps) to state and local level education and activism, let’s be clear: Media is critical.

The blame for much of where we are lands on — you guessed it — the NY Times. The Times was an early leader in the 1990s on supporting the emerging trans rights movement. But under publisher A. G. Sulzberger it now continues pushing the national conversation towards skepticism of trans people and criticism of their actions. And unfortunately, it still exercises an outsized impact on a large swath of the public and the media itself.

Media Matters’ Ari Drennan once charged the Times with being the leading publication at shifting national dialog on trans rights away from housing, employment, and health care and towards the lie that the biggest problem was “too much medical care.”

Since this is the third such article in the Times in just the past week on how trans people are somehow bullying the nation, it’s fair to add that no publication is doing more shift the conversation away from the real fears of the coming effort to wipe trans people out of civil existence and towards the idea that the biggest problem is trans people being too assertive in pushing back on it.

Or as Tom Scocca put it more pungently, “I really wish I could pound into the heads of the people at the Times that some of us are neither trans nor activist but just think their trans coverage is dogshit journalism, as journalism.”

Riki Wilchins is the founder of The Transexual Menace, the first large direct action group for trans rights and GenderPAC, the first national political organization devoted to issues of “gender identity and expression” and representing the transgender community. She writes regularly on trans issues and politics at www.medium.com/@rikiwichins. Her latest book is Bad Ink: How the New York Times Sold Out Transgender Teens.

Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ and Allied community. Visit pride.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. We welcome your thoughts and feedback on any of our stories. Email us at voices@equalpride.com. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists and editors, and do not directly represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, equalpride.

Original Article on The Advocate
Author: Riki Wilchins