Michael Powell is an American writer and anti-transgender activist involved in the New York Times anti-transgender coverage crisis of the 2020s. In 2024, Powell moved to anti-trans publication The Atlantic.
Background
Michael Henry Powell was born on January 20, 1957. Powell earned a bachelor’s degree from The State University of New York at Purchase in 1978 and then attended Columbia University.
In 1982 Powell married Evelyn M. Intondi (born March 14, 1956), a midwife and reproductive health specialist. They have two adult children.
Powell worked at New York Newsday from 1988 to 1995. Powell next moved to The Washington Post in 1996. Powell was with The New York Observer before joining the Times in 2007. After writing on the “Gotham” column, Powell moved to Sports in 2014.
In early 2020, Powell requested a new role from anti-trans editor Carolyn Ryan, who told The Observer:
âWe needed somebody who was deeply experienced at covering controversies in a panoramic way, who was experienced enough that they wouldnât get intimidated or really shaken by some of the criticisms on Twitter and elsewhere.â
In June, Powell ended work on the “Sports of The Times” column and began writing about “free speech and thought, identity, campuses and so on.”
In 2023 Powell moved to the even more transphobic Atlantic, which has not had a trans journalist on their masthead since their founding in 1857.
Anti-transgender activism
In 2014 Powell boasted about interviewing “transvestite prostitutes from Ecuador.” No reputable journalist was using the term transvestite in 2014.
Lia Thomas non-interview
In a 2022 story on transgender athletes, Powell wrote one of thousands of articles that used Lia Thomas as outrage bait, even though Powell failed to interview Thomas for the piece. Where an earlier piece in the Times by Billy Witz adhered to objective reporting, Powell chose to frame transgender people as debates to be solved. Powell claims the debates center on “science, fairness and inclusiveness, and cut to the core of distinctions between gender identity and biological sex.”
Many people across the political spectrum are deeply invested in maintaining sex segregation and shoring up the study of “sex differences,” and Powell uncritically presents their pettifogging about rules and measurements and what-not.
To Powell’s credit, the story briefly mentions Anna Posbergh among the usual suspects fixated on minutiae within a fatally flawed and fundamentally unfair institution. Posbergh is one of many who believe that there is no ethical future for sex-segregated competitive sport, which largely exists to further the belief that one half of the human population is “inferior” to the other half.
Powell polishes the classic “science vs. activism” chestnut, suggesting only “activists” believe biology is socially constructed:
Even nomenclature is contentious. Descriptive phrases such as âbiological womanâ and âbiological manâ might be seen as central to discussing differences in performance. Many trans rights activists say such expressions are transphobic and insist biology and gender identity are largely social constructs.
Powell concludes, “The solution, a balance of gender and biology, looks distant.” While the solution is distant, it is not a balance of gender and biology. It is a recognition that sex-segregated sport, just like any sex-segregated institution, has no place in an ethical society.
Background on the Thomas non-interview
Powell contacted GLAAD in the course of the story, and after they told Powell that Martina Navratilova holds views they consider objectionable, Powell naturally included Navratilova because it violates some sort of perceived taboo.
Those mentioned by Powell include:
- Lia Thomas
- Princeton University women’s swim team
- Robin Harris, Ivy League ED
- Robert Sanchez of Sports Illustrated
- Sebastian Coe of World Athletics
- ACLU
- GLAAD
- Martina Navratilova
- Half of University of Pennsylvania women’s swim teammates
- Brooke Forde
- Griffin Maxwell Brooks
- Michael J. Joyner of Mayo Clinic
- NCAA
- Ross Tucker
- Chris Mosier
- Ira S. Hammerman
- Carole Hooven
- Allyson Felix
- Renée Richards
- Joanna Harper
- Reka Gyorgy
- Womenâs Sports Foundation
- Doriane Lambelet Coleman
- Nathan Palmer
- Anna Posbergh
- Kathleen Stock
- Iszac Henig
- Emily Bridges
- Macdonald-Laurier Institute
References
Witz, Billy (January 24, 2022). As Lia Thomas Swims, Debate About Transgender Athletes Swirls. The New York Times. [archive] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/sports/lia-thomas-transgender-swimmer.html
Powell, Michael (May 6, 2014). Profiling the City He Knew, and Learned to Know. New York Times https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/times-insider/2014/05/06/profiling-the-city-he-knew-and-learned-to-know/
Powell, Michael (May 29, 2022). Much Debate but Little Dialogue on Transgender Female Athletes. [alternately titled “What Lia Thomas Could Mean for Womenâs Elite Sports.”] New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/29/us/lia-thomas-women-sports.html
Press room (July 18, 2023). The Atlantic Hires Michael Powell and Zoë Schlanger as Staff Writers. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2023/07/atlantic-hires-michael-powell-and-zoe-schlanger/674739/
Kassel, Matthew (June 29, 2020). The NYTimes reporter who traded in the sports beat to cover âidentity wars.â Jewish Insider https://jewishinsider.com/2020/06/the-nytimes-reporter-who-traded-in-the-sports-beat-to-cover-identity-wars/
Hogue, William P. (February 23, 2023) From Sports to Politics to Telescopes, Michael Powell Brings Heart and Shoe Leather. Observer https://observer.com/2023/02/from-sports-to-politics-to-telescopes-michael-powell-brings-heart-and-shoe-leather/
-https://twitter.com/powellAtlantic/status/1276191624201199620
Meares, Joel (August 13, 2010). Q & A: New York Times Reporter Michael Powell. Columbia Journalism Review https://archives.cjr.org/behind_the_news/q_a_new_york_times_reporter_mi.php
Resources
Muck Rack (muckrack.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Purchase College (purchase.edu)
- Michael Powell ’78
- https://www.purchase.edu/live/profiles/3926-michael-powell-78
Facebook (facebook.com)