Inside the New York Times’ trans coverage: ‘I wonder if people at the top fully believe in trans people’s humanity’
Insiders say the Gray Lady is ‘too excited to question whether or not it’s OK to be trans’
Soleil Ho
Updated: Aug. 31, 2023 9:44 a.m.

Members of El/La Para TransLatinas walk in the 2022 San Francisco Trans March. Critics say the New York Times’ coverage of trans issues mirrors right-wing talking points.
Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle 2022

Back in March, the Chronicle held a community feedback session in its newsroom for trans San Franciscans to speak to our journalists about what the media was getting wrong about their lives. They bemoaned a lack of trans reporters and articles that read more like medical records than human stories. Most urgently, attendees discussed how some news outlets have elevated extremist right-wing talking points about trans people, helping turn their very existence into an inflammatory cultural debate.

“Don’t let them capture your platform,” one person implored.

“Not like what’s happened with the New York Times,” was the quiet part that no one said out loud.

Over the past few years, as the Republican Pary has embarked on a state-by-state campaign to systematically push trans people out of public life, critics say the country’s leading newspaper has played along. Coverage has ranged from features overplaying the health risks of chest binding, a nonsurgical method of flattening one’s chest, to opinion columns reframing gender inclusivity as misogyny.

“Month after month, story after story, the Times is pouring its attention and resources into the message that there is something seriously concerning about the way young people who identify as trans are receiving care,” wrote Tom Scocca of Popula, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
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