Jameela Jamil, Judd Apatow, Jonathan Van Ness, Gabrielle Union-Wade, Lena Dunham, Margaret Cho, Wilson Cruz, Tommy Dorfman, and other celebrities on February 15 joined over 100 organizations to sign an open letter from GLAAD to the New York Times for “irresponsible, biased” coverage of transgender people that promotes “dangerous inaccuracies” about trans lives.
“It is appalling that the Times would dedicate so many resources and pages to platforming the voices of extremist anti-LGBTQ activists who have built their careers on denigrating and dehumanizing LGBTQ people, especially transgender people,” the letter reads.
“While there have been a few fair stories, mostly human interest stories, those articles are not getting front-page placement or sent to app users via push notification like the irresponsible pieces are.”
All the signatories made three demands to New York Times: stop printing what they believe to be biased anti-trans stories, hold a meeting with transgender community members and leaders to listen to their stories, and “genuinely invest” in hiring more full-time trans writers and editors.
“We won’t stand for the Times platforming lies, bias, fringe theories, and dangerous inaccuracies. We demand fair coverage, we demand that the Times platform trans voices as both sources and full-time writers and editors, and we demand a meeting between Times leadership and the transgender community,” the letter said.
GLAAD said on its website that the NYT has not responded to either letter directly. However, in a statement to a publication, Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesperson for the Times, said, “We received the letter from GLAAD and welcome their feedback. We understand how GLAAD sees our coverage. But at the same time, we recognize that GLAAD’s advocacy mission and The Times’s journalistic mission are different. As a news organization, we pursue independent reporting on transgender issues that include profiling groundbreakers in the movement, challenges and prejudice faced by the community, and how society is grappling with debates about care.”
The spokesperson continued, “The very news stories criticized by GLAAD in their letter reported deeply and empathetically on issues of care and well-being for trans teens and adults. Our journalism strives to explore, interrogate and reflect the experiences, ideas, and debates in society — to help readers understand them. Our reporting did exactly that and we’re proud of it.”
Stay tuned to this space for more updates.
