GLAAD CEO argues for 'government intervention' in LGBTQ+ hate speech crackdowns
GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis joined 'CBS Mornings' on Thursday to discuss online hate speech against members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Multiple Hollywood celebrities and pro-LGBTQ advocacy groups joined Hollywood gay lobby, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), in torching The New York Times over its recent coverage of trans issues.
A recent letter composed by GLAAD, and signed by celebrities like Hollywood director Judd Apatow, actress Lena Dunham, and comedian Hannah Gadsby, trashed the outlet for "irresponsible, biased coverage of transgender people" that it claims is "damaging all LGBTQ youth."
The letter demanding The New York Times "TAKE ACTION" against this type of reporting in the future, joined another signed by nearly 200 New York Times contributors admonishing the paper for the same reasons.
GEORGIA COP, 19, RESIGNS AFTER SUSPENSION FOR RELIGIOUS POST ON GAY MARRIAGE: ‘DANGEROUS PRECEDENT’
The New York Times building on 8th Avenue in New York City. (DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images)
Published on GLAAD’s website, the letter declared that 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 lobby acknowledged that though there has been some reporting on trans issues it has approved of, it is "not getting front-page placement or sent to app users via push notification like the irresponsible pieces are."
It claimed that the paper’s "Science Desk" had "decided to spend more than a year undermining support for transgender youth by writing ‘just asking questions’ stories about medically approved best practices for gender-affirming healthcare."
Demonstrators protest in support of rights for transgender youth. (Fox News )
GLAAD alleged that Times reporting has gone against the medical and science community, saying, "Every major medical association supports gender-affirming care as best practices care that is safe and lifesaving and has widespread consensus in the medical and scientific communities. Yet the Times continues to churn out pieces that anti-trans extremists use to harm children and families."
Fox News Digital reported last November how a New York Times piece discussing the long term effects of giving minors puberty blockers "sparked jeers from critics on social media mocking their newfound nuanced coverage of puberty blockers."
The GLAAD letter also slammed the paper for allowing a "cisgender heterosexual" like Pamela Paul to write her unfounded thoughts about how LGBTQ people should describe themselves," and condemned it for hiring conservative thinker David French as an opinion columnist in 2023, citing his profession as "an attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
After also noting that the Times took too long issue a correction for misidentifying the gender of someone who helped stop the Colorado Springs "Club Q" shooter, GLAAD provided a list of "demands" it had for the outlet.
The first demand stated, "Stop printing biased anti-trans stories." The second said, "Hold a meeting with transgender community members and leaders, and listen throughout that meeting." And the third mandated, "Genuinely invest in hiring trans writers and editors, full time on your staff."
GLAAD’s letter concluded, stating, "it is appalling to see how the news and opinion pages are now full of misguided, inaccurate, and disingenuous ‘both sides’ fearmongering and bad faith ‘just asking questions’ coverage. We won’t stand for the Times platforming lies, bias, fringe theories, and dangerous inaccuracies."
A protester holds the trans flag and snaps in solidarity with other speakers, during a demonstration at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, on June 25, 2021. (Stephen Zenner/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox