These were the people leading The Atlantic when they published a transphobic article by anti-transgender activist Jesse Singal in 2018.
No transgender journalist appeared on The Atlantic masthead since its founding in 1957.
In July 2021, the publication stopped listing those accountable for their output.
David G. Bradley: Chairman
Bob Cohn: President
Jeffrey Goldberg: Editor in Chief
Scott Stossel: Editor, Magazine
Matt Thompson: Executive Editor
Adrienne LaFrance: Editor, TheAtlantic.com
Don Peck: Deputy Editor, Magazine
Swati Sharma: Deputy Editor, TheAtlantic.com
Denise Kersten Wills: Features Editor
Ann Hulbert: Literary Editor, Magazine
Sarah Yager: Deputy Executive Editor
Adrienne Green: Managing Editor
Katherine Wells: Executive Producer, Podcasts
Jon Batiste: Music Director
National Correspondents
Mark Bowden, Ta-Nehisi Coates, James Fallows, Franklin Foer, Hanna Rosin, Graeme Wood
Senior Editors
Ross Andersen, Yoni Appelbaum, David Barber (Poetry), Ronald Brownstein, Krishnadev Calamur, C. Michael Curtis (Fiction), Ellen Cushing, Richard Florida, Caitlin Frazier, David Frum, Kathy Gilsinan, James Hamblin, Kate Julian, Jane Yong Kim, Corby Kummer, Christopher Orr, Christi Parsons, Yvonne Rolzhausen, Rebecca J. Rosen, Adam Serwer, John Swansburg, Alan Taylor, Derek Thompson, Lauren N. Williams, Gillian B. Whit
Washington Editor at Large; Editor, AtlanticLIVE Steve Clemons
Staff Writers Russell Berman, Natasha Bertrand, McKay Coppins, Rachel Donadio, Ashley Fetters, Conor Friedersdorf, Uri Friedman, Megan Garber, Sophie Gilbert, Hannah Giorgis, David A. Graham, Rosie Gray, Emma Green, Adam Harris, Olga Khazan, Spencer Kornhaber, Alexis C. Madrigal, Robinson Meyer, Vann Newkirk, Elaina Plott, Alana Semuels, David Sims, Alia Wong, Ed Yong, Sarah Zhang
Art Creative Director, The Atlantic: David Somerville Art Director: Paul Spella Associate Art Directors: Katie Martin, Arsh Raziuddin
Production Director: John Kefferstan Associate Director: Jennifer Adams
Executive Staff Manager Kim Jaske
Contributing Editors Marc Ambinder, Peter Beinart, Ian Bogost, Kate Bolick, Bianca Bosker, David Brooks, Andrew Cohen, Eliot A. Cohen, Michelle Cottle, Wayne Curtis, Ross Douthat, Gregg Easterbrook, Garrett Epps, David H. Freedman, Lori Gottlieb, Barbara Bradley Hagerty, Michael Hirschorn, Nancy Jo Iacoi, Wendy Kaminer, Robert D. Kaplan, Mary Louise Kelly, Adam Kirsch, Toby Lester, Sandra Tsing Loh, Annie Lowrey, Thomas Mallon, Charles C. Mann, B.R. Myers, Moisés Naím, P.J. O’Rourke, James Parker, Virginia Postrel, Jonathan Rauch, David Rohde, Jeffrey Rosen, Reihan Salam, Eric Schlosser, Jeffrey Selingo, Ellen Ruppel Shell, Burt Solomon, James Somers, Alison Stewart, Sage Stossel, Jeffrey Tayler, Dominic Tierney, Chuck Todd, Jerry Useem, Robert Vare, Alex Wagner, Emily Yoffe, Fareed Zakaria, Ben Zimmer
Fellows
Sarah Elizabeth Adler, Jordan Bissell, Catherine Daniels, Isabel Fattal, Abdallah Fayyad, Lena Felton, Rachel Gutman, Taylor Hosking, Steven Johnson, Tori Latham, Elijah Lee, Annabelle Timsit, Kevin Volkl
Atlantic Studios Executive Producer & General Manager: Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg
Senior Producer: Ashley Bloom Kenny
Production Manager: Brian Jimenez
Art Director and Animator: Jackie Lay
Producer: Jeremy Raff
Associate Producers: Daniel Lombroso, Nicolas Pollock
Foundation Relations Executive Director: Blake Truitt
Director of Strategy and Planning: Caroline Jarboe
Data & Growth Senior Director: Emilie Harkin
Director, Audience & Data: Harris Cullinan
Manager, Customer Insights: Sera Herold
Operations Coordinator: Carson Trobich
Customer Experience Associate: Anna Hoffman
Fellows: Laith Elkurd, Lora Kelly
Digital Products & Technology Executive Director, Digital Product & Technology: Betsy Cole
Director, Product and Planning: Clarissa Matthews
Senior Product Managers: Anika Gupta, Andrew McGill
Product Design Lead: Dwight Brinkerhoff
Product Designer: Chris Sullivan
Product Design Fellow: Thanh Do
Director, Product Engineering: Josh West
Lead Platform Developer: Frankie Dintino
Senior Platform Developers: Chris Davis, Jason Goldstein
Platform Developers: Obssa Bizuwork, Colin Fleming
Lead Front End Developer: Jeremy Green
Front End Developers: Kevin Mahoney, Joey Nichols, Rekha Tenjarla
Fellows: Meghan Babla, Ana Carano
Associate Director, Digital Analytics: Adam Felder
Analyst, Digital Content: Karen Simpson
Senior Counsel: Marisa M. Johnson
Atlantic Media, Inc. Michael Finnegan, President Emily Lenzner, SVP, Global Communications & External Relations Aretae Wyler, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel
The American Spectator is a conservative American media organization that publishes consistently anti-transgender articles.
For the British newsmagazine that publishes a US version, see The Spectator.
Background
The American Spectator was founded in 1967 by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., who remains its editor-in-chief, with Wlady Pleszczynski its managing editor since 1980.
Contributors
The following authors have published anti-trans pieces.
Lou Aguilar
Elyse Apel
Bruce Bawer
Adam Carrington
Itxu Díaz
Daniel J. Flynn
Ellie Gardey
David Keltz
Libby Krieger
Melissa Mackenzie
Scott McKay
Mary Frances Myler
Evan Poellinger
Tom Raabe
Debra J. Saunders
Irit Tratt
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.
References
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. (ed.), Orthodoxy: The American Spectator’s 20th Anniversary Anthology, Harper & Row, 1987. ISBN0-06-015818-2
The article promoted and popularized several anti-trans talking points about gender affirming care for minors, including “bone density” and “low quality evidence.”
The piece is part of a strategy by anti-trans hate groups like Genspect to get FUD propaganda (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) about gender affirming care into mainstream media. Focusing on uncommon side effects and unknown risks is a long-used pretense to restrict or ban similar healthcare like contraception and abortion, especially for minors.
Background
The story is about “emerging evidence of potential harm” and the “long-term physical effects and other consequences” of Lupron and other medications that can manage onset of puberty. Any drug carries a risk of side effects, which the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tracks via adverse event reports. FDA approved Lupron for central precocious puberty in 1993. It has since been used for trans and gender diverse youth experiencing unwanted puberty. Doctors have wide latitude to use approved drugs “off label,” including use to delay puberty for trans and gender diverse youth.
Several years earlier, Jewett began reporting on cisgender people who believe puberty blockers which they took as minors led to short- and long-term adverse side effects. Children whose puberty starts at 5 to 8 years old often face social problems, and those capable of pregnancy are at higher risk of sexual harassment and assault. Doctors work with parents to weigh the risks and benefits before getting informed consent. As with any medical treatment, some people will be harmed more than they were helped.
Headlines used for the story include:
They Paused Puberty, but Is There a Cost?
Puberty Blockers Can Help Transgender Youth. Is There a Cost?
Below are anti-trans talking points that were promoted and popularized via this article.
Bone density
Puberty involves a release of hormones that affect bone deposition throughout the body. Puberty blockers affect that process, so bone health is monitored in adolescent patients, usually with a baseline measurement before treatment followed by scheduled measurements.
One of the three young people profiled had to stop puberty blockade due to done density issues. While this is a well-known risk and uncommon side effect, it can usually be monitored and managed. Having to stop hormone blockade altogether due to bone density is rare.
Via USPATH/WPATH:
The anecdote provided of an adolescent who began, and then stopped pubertal suppression due to bone density loss lacks important details, including age and pubertal stage at initiation of puberty blockers, length of time on blockers, baseline bone density (“Z-score”), and whether the bone density comparison was made to identified gender or birth-assigned sex. Additional important information not provided includes calcium intake, and vitamin D intake and level, as well as level of physical activity, all of which play a substantial role in maintenance of bone mineral density.
“Low-quality evidence”
Jewett and Twohey also parrot the “low-quality evidence” claim put forth by anti-trans activists, based on a scale devised by Gordon Guyatt. Federal judge Sarah E. Geraghty rejected these claims in a 2023 Georgia case where anti-trans activists Paul Hruz, Michael Laidlaw, and James Cantor testified against Yale University professor of pediatrics Meredithe McNamara:
The undisputed record shows that clinical medical decision-making, including in pediatric or adolescent medicine, often is not guided by evidence that would qualify as “high quality” on the scales used by Defendants’ experts. 30 (Doc. 70-1, McNamara Decl. ¶¶ 23–28; Tr. 74:11–75:1 (McNamara Testimony); Tr. 133:614 (Hruz Testimony).) In fact, the record shows that less than 15 percent of medical treatments are supported by “high-quality evidence,” or in other words that 85 percent of evidence that guides clinical care, across all areas of medicine, would be classified as “low-quality” under the scale used by Defendants’ experts. (Doc. 70-1, McNamara Decl. ¶ 25; Tr. 74:11–75:1.) Defendants do not refute Dr. McNamara’s testimony on this point, and indeed they “concede” that “low-quality” evidence “can be considered.” 31
Geraghty also noted the obvious biases of Hruz, Laidlaw and Cantor:
Defendants’ experts’ insistence on a very high threshold of evidence in the context of claims about hormone therapy’s safety and benefits, and on the other hand their tolerance of a much lower threshold of evidence for claims about its risks, the likelihood of desistance and/or regret, and their notions about the ideological bias of a medical establishment that largely disagrees with them. That is cause for some concern about the weight to be assigned to their views, although the Court does not doubt that those they express are genuinely held.
(“Dr. [Paul] Hruz fended and parried questions and generally testified as a deeply biased advocate, not as an expert sharing relevant evidence-based information and opinions. I do not credit his testimony.”); Eknes-Tucker v. Marshall, 603 F. Supp. 3d 1131, 1142–43 (M.D. Ala. 2022) (explaining that the court gave Dr. James Cantor’s “testimony regarding the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors very little weight”); C. P. by & through Pritchard v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, No. 3:20-CV-06145-RJB, 2022 WL 17092846, at *4 (W.D. Wash. Nov. 21, 2022) (noting that it was a “close question” as to whether Dr. Michael Laidlaw was qualified to testify about the medical necessity of gender-affirming care because he has treated only two patients with gender dysphoria and has done no original research on gender identity).
We were surprised to see reference to a subjective statement from Dr. Catherine Gordon, MD regarding “getting behind” on bone density, and we question whether this comment was taken out of context. Dr. Gordon is a long-standing advocate for trans youth care, and in her June 2022 single-author commentary published in Pediatrics, she stated that, “The duration of pubertal suppression with gonadotropin hormone releasing hormone agonists varies, but can extend up to 4 years for younger patients who are not able to provide consent until age 16 for receipt of gender-affirming therapy. Puberty blockers represent an invaluable intervention for these children and adolescents, to reduce anxiety and ‘buy time’ until final decisions can be made about gender assignment.” A subsequent commentary co-authored by Dr. Gordon and published in November 2022 in JAMA Open Access stated, “Concerns about skeletal losses become less significant in an adolescent with active suicidal ideations. Although the significance of the risks may be unclear, there is strong evidence regarding the benefits of GnRHa in transgender youth: it can be a life-changing and lifesaving treatment for a vulnerable population who is at high risk for anxiety, depression, and suicide.”
American Academy of Pediatrics and the international Endocrine Society, which in 2017 had described the limited research on the effects of the drugs on trans youth as “low-quality.”
more than 50 doctors and academic experts around the world
Twohey, Megan; Jewett, Christina (November 14, 2022). They Paused Puberty, but Is There a Cost? New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/health/puberty-blockers-transgender.html [archive]
WPATH / USPATH (November 22, 2022). USPATH and WPATH Respond to NY Times Article “They Paused Puberty, But Is There a Cost?” published on November 14, 2022. [PDF] https://www.wpath.org/media/cms/Documents/Public%20Policies/2022/USPATHWPATH%20Statement%20re%20Nov%2014%202022%20NYT%20Article%20Nov%2022%202022%20CORRECTION.pdf
GLAAD (February 14, 2023). 180+ journalists, New York Times contributors call out biased coverage of transgender people in joint letter as 100+ organizations and notables echo call, citing pattern of inaccurate, harmful trans coverage in the New York Times https://glaad.org/releases/new-york-times-contributors-call-out-biased-coverage-of-transgender-people-in-joint-letter/
2022 NYT story links
The Mental Health of Transgender Youth: Advances in Understanding Maureen D. Connolly, M.D. • Marcus J. Zervos, M.D. • Charles J. Barone II, M.D. • Christine C. Johnson, Ph.D. • Christine L.M. Joseph, Ph.D. Published:August 18, 2016•DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.06.012•
Jody L. Herman Senior Scholar of Public Policy Andrew R. Flores Affiliated Scholar Kathryn K. O’Neill Policy Analyst How Many Adults and Youth Identify as Transgender in the United States? June 2022 https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/trans-adults-united-states/
Cass Review Interim report: Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People -https://cass.independent-review.uk/publications/interim-report/
Public consultation Interim service specification for specialist gender dysphoria services for children and young people 20 October 2022 -https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/specialised-commissioning/gender-dysphoria-services/supporting_documents/B1937iiInterimservicespecificationforspecialistgenderdysphoriaservicesforchildrenandyoungpeople22.pdf
Johanna Olson-Kennedy, MD,corresponding author1 Yee-Ming Chan, MD, PhD,2 Robert Garofalo, MPH, MD,3 Norman Spack, MD,2 Diane Chen, PhD,4 Leslie Clark, PhD,1 Diane Ehrensaft, PhD,5 Marco Hidalgo, PhD,1 Amy Tishelman, PhD,2 and Stephen Rosenthal, MD5 Impact of Early Medical Treatment for Transgender Youth: Protocol for the Longitudinal, Observational Trans Youth Care Study JMIR Res Protoc. 2019 Jul; 8(7): e14434. Monitoring Editor: Gunther Eysenbach; Reviewed by James Lykens and Adrienne Pichon. doi: 10.2196/14434
CHAD TERHUNE, ROBIN RESPAUT, and MICHELLE CONLIN (Oct. 6, 2022). https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-care/
Putting numbers on the rise in children seeking gender care By ROBIN RESPAUT and CHAD TERHUNE Filed Oct. 6, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-data/
GORDON, CATHERINE M Skeletal Health and Bone Marrow Composition Among Youth Project Number 5R01HD101421-03 Contact PI/Project Leader .Other PIs Awardee Organization BOSTON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL https://reporter.nih.gov/search/VccdwST9P0yW2AM-BR598g/project-details/10401768
Uppdrag granskning Mission: Investigate: Trans children -https://www.svtplay.se/video/33358590/uppdrag-granskning/mission-investigate-trans-children-avsnitt-1?info=visa
,Stephen M. Rosenthal, M.D. statement-https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/rosenthal-in-alabama-court-case/f616e90a9b4bfe2d/full.pdf
Rick Rojas https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/14/us/alabama-transgender-law.html
Consensus Parameter: Research Methodologies to Evaluate Neurodevelopmental Effects of Pubertal Suppression in Transgender Youth Diane Chen, John F. Strang, Victoria D. Kolbuck, Stephen M. Rosenthal, Kim Wallen, Deborah P. Waber, Laurence Steinberg, Cheryl L. Sisk, Judith Ross, Tomas Paus, Sven C. Mueller, Margaret M. McCarthy, Paul E. Micevych, Carol L. Martin, Baudewijntje P.C. Kreukels, Lauren Kenworthy, … See all authors Published Online:11 Dec 2020https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2020.0006
Consensus Parameter: Research Methodologies to Evaluate Neurodevelopmental Effects of Pubertal Suppression in Transgender Youth Diane Chen, John F. Strang, Victoria D. Kolbuck, Stephen M. Rosenthal, Kim Wallen, Deborah P. Waber, Laurence Steinberg, Cheryl L. Sisk, Judith Ross, Tomas Paus, Sven C. Mueller, Margaret M. McCarthy, Paul E. Micevych, Carol L. Martin, Baudewijntje P.C. Kreukels, Lauren Kenworthy, Megan M. Herting, Agneta Herlitz, Ira R.J. Hebold Haraldsen, Ronald Dahl, Eveline A. Crone, Gordon J. Chelune, Sarah M. Burke, Sheri A. Berenbaum, Adriene M. Beltz, Julie Bakker, Lise Eliot, Eric Vilain, Gregory L. Wallace, Eric E. Nelson, and Robert Garofalo-https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/trgh.2020.0006
“Bone Mass in Young Adulthood Following Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Analog Treatment and Cross-Sex Hormone Treatment in Adolescents With Gender Dysphoria,” Klink et. al, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2015
“Effect of Pubertal Suppression and Cross-Sex Hormone Therapy on Bone Turnover Markers and Bone Mineral Apparent Density (BMAD) in Transgender Adolescents,” Vlot et. al, Bone, 2017
“The Effect of GnRH Analogue Treatment on Bone Mineral Density in Young Adolescents With Gender Dysphoria: Findings From a Large National Cohort,” Joseph et. al, Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2019
“Physical Changes, Laboratory Parameters and Bone Mineral Density During Testosterone Treatment in Adolescents With Gender Dysphoria,” Stoffers et. al, The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2019
“Bone Development in Transgender Adolescents Treated With GnRH Analogues and Subsequent Gender-Affirming Hormones,” Schagen et. al, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2020
“Short-Term Outcomes of Pubertal Suppression in a Selected Cohort of 12- to 15-Year-Old Young People With Persistent Gender Dysphoria in the U.K.,” Carmichael et. al, PLOS One, 2021
“Pubertal Suppression, Bone Mass and Body Composition in Youth With Gender Dysphoria,” Navabi et. al, Pediatrics, 2021
Reason is an American media organization that promotes libertarian viewpoints.
Contributors
Contributors who have covered trans issues include:
Choice is a publication by the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). In September 2003, an unnamed reviewer at Choice wrote one of the few positive reviews for the transphobic book The Man Who Would Be Queen by J. Michael Bailey. This led to several academic libraries spending limited resources on a hardcover book that was available for free online from the publisher Joseph Henry Press.
Marketing Director Ann Merchant quoted Choice in revised promotional material for the book:
“Bailey is a sympathetic and compassionate believer who wants to convert others. This is a fascinating read… Summing up: Highly recommended.”
CHOICE, September 2003, via Joseph Henry Press (PDF)
2004 Stonewall Book Award nomination
In December 2003, Cecil Hixon, Chair of ALA’s 2004 Stonewall Book Award Committee, announced that Bailey’s book was one of 39 books shortlisted as a nonfiction nominee. The winner was John D’Emilio’s Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin.
“Recommended reading for anyone interested in the study of gender identity and sexual orientation…. It is written, however, in a style that makes it easily easily accessible to any reader.” — Out Magazine
256pp., 6″ x 8.5″ hardback ISBN 0-309-08418-0 $24.95 To order: Call toll-free 1-888-624-7651 or Browse before you buy – preview a full-text, searchable version or buy a downloadable, PDF online at www.nap.edu
Joesph Henry Press an imprint of The National Academies Press www.jhpress.org • 888-624-7651
Response
Calpernia Addams and I called up the Editor that day and got a perspective piece printed in the next available edition. After reading the book, he assured us the ad would not run again.
There’s work to do. For example: J. Michael Bailey, a professor who claims to be a friend of our community, has just put out a very defamatory book. In The Man Who Would Be Queen, he links transsexual women to The Silence of the Lambs and notes that we work as “strippers and prostitutes, as well as in many other occupations.” Because we believe in fighting unjust media depictions wherever we find them, we took time from our other projects to address and counter this insidious book.
References
Joseph Henry Press (June 10, 2003). [ad for The Man Who Would Be Queen]. The Advocate
Addams C, James A (July 22, 2003). Transformations. The Advocate. http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/894/894_transformations.asp
Out is an American media organization for sex and gender minorities founded in 1992. Below are some of the matters relevant to this project.
In March 2003, Out ran a book review by Duncan Osborne. The parts in bold were used in promotional material by the published Joseph Henry Press. The review is based on a preview copy where the subtitle had not yet been altered The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism.
J. Michael Bailey’s The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Psychology of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism is recommended reading for anyone interested in the study of gender identity and sexual orientation. Bailey, an associate professor of psychology at Northwestern University, focuses exclusively on men, and he covers a broad spectrum—gay men, male-to-female transsexuals, and men who identify as neither gay nor transgendered but engage in behaviors that are typically associated with those who do. Bailey has produced a thoughtful book that cites recent scientific studies on homosexuality and transsexuality. It is written, however, in a style that makes it easily accessible to any reader.
Below is an example of how the excerpted review appeared in The Advocateon June 10, 2003.
Below is a classified ad that ran in early 2003 in many gay publications, citing the review above:
References
Osborne D (March 2003). [Review] The Man Who Would Be Queen. Out. http://www.out.com/bookreviews2.asp?id=2598 [archive]
Jacqueline M. Welch is an American executive who has been responsible for the hostile workplace environment and lack of diversity at the New York Times newsroom since 2021.
No transgender journalist has appeared on the New York Times masthead since its founding in 1851, over 170 years of operation. In 2023 the San Francisco Chronicle cited an employee who said the Times has no trans reporters.
Background
Jacqueline M. “Jacqui” Welch (born ~1970) is a first-generation American born to working-class immigrant parents. Welch earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Syracuse University in 1991 and a master’s degree in Human Resources Management from The New School in 1994.
Welch started in 1991 at Lord & Taylor, then held roles at WestRock, Accenture, Rock-Tenn, and Willis Towers Watson. From 2008 to 2013 Welch held HR executive roles at Turner Broadcasting System. After working at Freddie Mac from 2016 to 2021, Welch joined the Times as Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer.
