Many have long criticized the New York Times' coverage of transgender people as being inaccurate, uninformed, and dangerous. Hundreds of New York Times contributors, LGBTQ rights organizations, and community leaders are now demanding that the paper improve this coverage.
Two separate open letters were written to the Times, one from over 180 contributors to the publication and another from community organizations and leaders. The former includes signatories like Roxane Gay, Cynthia Nixon, Alexander Chee, Angelica Ross, and the letter’s co-author, trans activist Cecilia Gentili. There is also space for any member of the public to add their support.
The latter was spearheaded by GLAAD and includes GLSEN, Jazz Jennings, Amy Schneider, Charlotte Clymer, Dylan Mulvaney, Equality Federation, Gabrielle Union-Wade, Human Rights Campaign, Matthew Shepard Foundation, NYC Pride, PFLAG, the Transgender Law Center, the National LGBTQ Task Force, and others.
The letter from the contributors notes that over the course of the last eight months, the Times has written 15,000 words of front-page commentary debating the merits of providing gender-affirming care for trans youth.
The letter stated, “A tiny percentage of the population is trans, and an even smaller percentage of those people face the type of conflict the Times is so intent on magnifying. There is no rapt reporting on the thousands of parents who simply love and support their children, or on the hardworking professionals at the New York Times enduring a workplace made hostile by bias—a period of forbearance that ends today.”
Similar criticism of the Times was made in GLAAD's letter, which also included a list of demands for the newspaper: stop publishing stories that are biased against trans people; meet with trans leaders; and hire full-time trans staff.