Journalists Want The New York Times To Stop Debating Transgender Topics

What’s happening: In a February 15 open letter to the New York Times, almost 1,000 contributors of the publication condemned the Times’s coverage of transgender topics as biased and following “the lead of far-right hate groups.” The outlet has since begun disciplinary proceedings against signatories.

What did they cover? The signatories singled out two recent pieces in which Times writers reported on the medical debate over “gender-affirming care” for minors. Instead of only including discussion in support of the movement, the authors also interviewed doctors and medical experts that were concerned with providing children with hormone therapy and sex changes. Signatories deemed this as “fueling hate.”

The Times’s response: The Times provided a statement in response to the letter, stating that “our journalism strives to explore, interrogate and reflect the experiences, ideas and debates in society.… Our reporting did exactly that.”

Big picture: Contributors of The New York Times attempting to bite the hand that feeds them shows how contentious the transgender topic has become. It is clear that progressive journalists no longer value honest debate and platforming perspectives that go against their political ideology.