Skip to content

Azeen Ghorayshi vs. transgender people

Azeen Ghorayshi is an American writer and anti-transgender activist who has written about transgender healthcare for youth and other trans topics in several publications. Ghorayshi is a key historical figure in the oppression of trans and gender diverse youth.

Ghorayshi is the point person laundering anti-transgender extremism into the New York Times, similar to Times health reporters in the 1970s who helped get adult care shut down as “experimental.”

Ghorayshi believes that affirmative models of care for trans and gender diverse youth are an unfolding medical scandal, echoing Times colleagues and contributors in the late 1970s who helped set the trans rights movement back for 25 years. The real medical scandal is that trans and gender diverse youth have never been able to receive appropriate care, and Ghorayshi’s reporting is a major factor in making this care unavailable to hundreds of thousands of minors.

Each year, thousands of American cisgender youth receive gender-affirming treatments like surgeries for unwanted breast tissue, but Ghorayshi is focused exclusively on banning the same procedures for transgender youth.

Ghorayshi’s anti-trans views are colored by disease models of gender identity, particularly psychopathology models. Ghorayshi is a strong proponent of gatekeeping trans healthcare via psychology and psychiatry, especially for minors.

Background

Azeen M. Ghorayshi was born in October 1988 and earned an undergraduate degree in biology from University of California, Berkeley in 2010. While there, Ghorayshi interned in UC Berkeley’s notoriously conservative and transphobic psychology department and in the neurobiology department. Ghorayshi then earned a master’s degree in science communication from Imperial College London.

Ghorayshi began writing as an Editorial Fellow at Mother Jones, then worked at the weekly East Bay Express in the Bay Area. Ghorayshi freelanced from 2013 to 2015, placing stories in New Scientist, The Guardian, Newsweek, Wired UK, and other outlets.

Ghorayshi co-founded Method Quarterly, a publication about science with Christina Agapakis. Other personnel included:

  • Ellie Harmon (editor in 2014)
  • Rose Eveleth (editor – presence scrubbed from site)

Ghorayshi joined BuzzFeed in 2015 as a science reporter, rising to science editor prior to departing.

Ghorayshi joined the New York Times in 2021, brought in by former Buzzfeed colleague Virginia Hughes.

2016 BuzzFeed piece

Ghorayshi is a big fan of anti-trans activist Alice Dreger’s cover-up of J. Michael Bailey’s “Danny Ryan” fabrication that got Bailey tenure.

In a since-deleted tweet, Ghorayshi expressed admiration for Dreger:

https://twitter.com/azeen/status/577922872276058112 [archive]

Shortly after expressing this love, Ghorayshi presented Dreger as a “liberal” academic instead of an inaugural member of the intellectual dark web, a gateway to the far right. In a “both sides” piece about trans healthcare for youth, Ghorayshi also presented transphobic psychologist J. Michael Bailey and geneticist Eric Vilain as objective or centrist scientists in the middle of the non-affirming coalition, and the transphobic American College of Pediatricians as “religious conservatives.” Ghorayshi also uncritically presented Jesse Singal’s false version of why Kenneth Zucker was fired (Zucker’s practices were outlawed in 2015 under Bill 77), and showcases Debra Soh’s claim that the affirmative model of care “reinforces outdated stereotypes.” Ghorayshi then cites a conservative Breitbart piece that quotes Zucker, summarizing their view that affirmative care is a dangerous new fad in parenting.

New York Times transgender articles

In the New York Times, Ghorayshi also published “cisgender person under siege” profiles featuring hospital CEO John Warner, surgeon Sidhbh Gallagher, and gender affirming healthcare critic Jamie Reed.

The Warner piece was about the closure of Genecis Children’s Medical Center in Dallas following abortion clinic protest tactics targeting practitioners and leaders. Ghorayshi had described Genecis in the 2016 BuzzFeed piece.

The Gallagher piece was favorably shared by many fascist, gender critical, and cis journalist accounts, including white nationalist Richard Spencer and Daily Wire writer Christina Buttons, as well as gender critical activists Katie Herzog, Jesse Singal, Kenneth Zucker, Cathy Brennan, Julia Mason, and Helen Lewis. It was also shared by a number of Ghorayshi’s current and former colleagues, including Virginia Hughes, Cliff Levy, Christina Jewett, Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Ken Bensinger, Oliver Whang, Dan Saltzstein, Judy Rudin, Paul McLeod, Kadia Goba, Josh Barro, Ellie Hall, Derek Robertson, Alison Griffiths, Kinnon Ross MacKinnon, Tina S. Fondeles, Benjamin Goggin, Yeganeh Torbati, Steven Meiers, Jessica Garrison, Mark Yarm, Shannon Palus, Megan Twohey, and Michael Marshall.

“Low-quality evidence”

Ghorayshi wrote a piece about the American Academy of Pediatrics that prominently featured their critics, including anti-trans activist Julia Mason of the hate group Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine. Ghorayshi also parrots 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 (2023) [emphasis mine]

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).

Geraghty (2023)

Ghorayshi also wrote an article centered on Jamie Reed, an activist who supports “a national moratorium on the medicalization of kids.” Reed is represented by anti-trans lawyer Vernadette Broyles, who has stated the transgender rights movement poses an “existential threat to our culture.”

References

Reed, Erin (October 23, 2024). Fact Check: New York Times Publishes Misleading Story On Puberty Blocker Study. Erin in the Morning https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/fact-check-new-york-times-publishes

Urquhart, Evan (August 23, 2024). NYT Treats Key Source’s False Allegations as an Aside in Latest Anti-Trans Smear. Assigned Media https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/nyt-treats-key-sources-many-lies-as-an-aside-in-latest-anti-trans-smear

Burns, Katelyn (September 13, 2023). Months after becoming the subject of an anti-trans media circus, a Missouri youth gender clinic is officially closing. Xtra https://xtramagazine.com/power/politics/missouri-gender-care-centre-closure-256740

Urquhart, Evan (September 8, 2023). Bad-faith coverage of trans issues — who does it serve? The Objective https://objectivejournalism.org/2023/09/bad-faith-coverage-of-trans-issues-who-does-it-serve/

Urquhart, Evan (September 3, 2023). “You Betrayed Us, Azeen”: A story on the allegations of former St. Louis gender clinic staffer Jamie Reed left parents who spoke with NYT reporter Azeen Ghorayshi crushed. Assigned https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/you-betrayed-us-azeen-parents-of-trans-youth-reeling-after-speaking-to-the-nyt

Urquhart, Evan (June 20, 2024). Missouri LGBTQ+ Org Raises Alarm at NYT Podcast Plans. Assigned Media https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/promo-alert-discourages-families-from-nyt-podcast

Koren, Lexi (August 30, 2023). NYT Publishes ‘Greatest Hits’ of Bad Trans Healthcare Coverage. FAIR https://fair.org/home/nyt-publishes-greatest-hits-of-bad-trans-healthcare-coverage/

Sapir Leor (August 25, 2023). A Slow Trek Back to Truth? City Journal https://www.city-journal.org/article/a-slow-trek-back-to-truth

Clark-Callender, Rebecca (August 11, 2023). How the Times Covers Trans Rights. On the Media https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/what-we-missed-how-press-covers-trans-rights-on-the-media

Sonoma, Serena (April 19, 2023). The New York Times’ Inaccurate Coverage of Transgender People is Being Weaponized Against the Transgender Community. GLAAD https://glaad.org/new-york-times-inaccurate-coverage-transgender-people-being-weaponized-against-transgender/

GLAAD (April 17, 2023). Two Months Later: Coalition Asks New York Times: Why Won’t You Meet With Trans Community Leaders? https://glaad.org/releases/two-months-later-coalition-asks-new-york-times-why-wont-you-meet-trans-community-leaders/

Bibi, Elizabeth (February 24, 2023). 10k New York Times Readers From All 50 States Join Coalition Calling On Times To Stop Irresponsible, Biased Coverage. HRC https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/10k-new-york-times-readers-from-all-50-states-join-coalition-calling-on-times-to-stop-irresponsible-biased-coverage

Hazard Owen, Laura (February 15, 2023). New York Times contributors, GLAAD, and many others criticize Times’ coverage of trans people. Nieman Lab https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/02/new-york-times-contributors-glaad-and-many-others-criticize-times-coverage-of-trans-people/

Griffing, Alex (February 15, 2023). NY Times Accused of ‘Anti-Trans’ Coverage by Judd Apatow, Lena Dunham, Gabrielle Union, NYT Contributors, and Activists in Scathing Letter. Mediaite https://www.mediaite.com/news/ny-times-accused-of-anti-trans-coverage-by-judd-apatow-lena-dunham-gabrielle-union-nyt-contributors-and-activists-in-scathing-letter/

Fields, Aryn  (February 15, 2023). Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, 100+ Organizations & Advocates Call Out Biased, Harmful New York Times Coverage of Transgender People in Joint Letter. HRC https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/human-rights-campaign-glaad-100-organizations-advocates-call-out-biased-harmful-new-york-times-coverage-of-transgender-people-in-joint-letter

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/

Scocca, Tom (January 29, 2023). Why Is the New York Times So Obsessed With Trans Kids? Popula https://popula.com/2023/01/29/the-worst-thing-we-read-this-week-why-is-the-new-york-times-so-obsessed-with-trans-kids/

Dugger, Celia (October 14, 2021). Azeen Ghorayshi Joins The Science Desk. New York Times https://www.nytco.com/press/azeen-ghorayshi-joins-the-science-desk/

Selected publications by Ghorayshi

Ghorayshi, Azeen (October 26, 2024). A Trans Researcher’s Pursuit of Better Data on Detransition. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/26/health/kinnon-mackinnon-detransition-research.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (October 23, 2024). U.S. Study on Puberty Blockers Goes Unpublished Because of Politics, Doctor Says. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/science/puberty-blockers-olson-kennedy.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (October 17, 2024). Texas Attorney General Sues Doctor Over Treatment for Transgender Minors. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/17/us/texas-transgender-treatment-lawsuit.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (October 8, 2024). 3% of American High Schoolers Identify as Transgender, First National Survey Finds. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/08/health/transgender-teenagers-cdc-survey.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (June 25, 2024). Biden Officials Pushed to Remove Age Limits for Trans Surgery, Documents Show. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/health/transgender-minors-surgeries.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (May 13, 2024). Hilary Cass Says U.S. Doctors Are ‘Out of Date’ on Youth Gender Medicine. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/13/health/hilary-cass-transgender-youth-puberty-blockers.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (April 18, 2024). Scotland Pauses Gender Medications for Minors. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/health/scotland-pauses-hormones-puberty-blockers-transgender.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (April 9, 2024). Youth Gender Medications Limited in England, Part of Big Shift in Europe. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/health/europe-transgender-youth-hormone-treatments.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (February 7, 2024). Many Transgender Americans Face Stigma and Financial Hardship, Survey Finds. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/07/health/trangender-survey-harassment-poverty.html

Staff report (September 27, 2023). The Fourth G.O.P. Debate: Insults Fly and Candidates Clash With Time Running Out Before Iowa. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/12/06/us/republican-debate-presidential-news#this-is-something-that-other-countries-in-europe-like-sweden-once-they-started-doing-it-they-saw-it-do-damage-they-shut-it-down

Staff report (September 27, 2023). The Second G.O.P. Debate: 2nd Debate a Frenzy of Attacks as Non-Trump Rivals Try to Shake Up Race. entry “Transgenderism, especially in kids, is a mental health disorder.” https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/09/27/us/republican-debate-presidential#ramaswamy-transgender-mental-health-disorder

Ghorayshi, Azeen (August 25, 2023). Judge Allows Missouri’s Ban on Youth Gender Medicine to Take Effect. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/us/missouri-transgender-ban-minors.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (August 23, 2023). How a Small Gender Clinic Landed in a Political Storm. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/23/health/transgender-youth-st-louis-jamie-reed.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (August 3, 2023). Medical Group Backs Youth Gender Treatments, but Calls for Research Review. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/03/health/aap-gender-affirming-care-evidence-review.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (July 6, 2023). Fight or Flight: Transgender Care Bans Leave Families and Doctors Scrambling. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/06/us/transgender-health-care-bans.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (June 9, 2023). England Limits Use of Puberty-Blocking Drugs to Research Only. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/health/lgbtq-suicide-data.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (June 6, 2023). Judge Sides With Families Fighting Florida’s Ban on Gender Care for Minors. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/06/us/florida-transgender-health-care-ban.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (June 1, 2023). No One Knows How Many L.G.B.T.Q. Americans Die by Suicide. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/health/lgbtq-suicide-data.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (March 30, 2023). Many States Are Trying to Restrict Gender Treatments for Adults, Too. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/22/health/transgender-adults-treatment-bans.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (March 30, 2023). What to Know About State Moves to Ban Transgender Health Care. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/03/30/health/trans-health-bills.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (February 13, 2023). How Teens Recovered From the ‘TikTok Tics.’ New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/13/health/tiktok-tics-gender-tourettes.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (November 4, 2022). Florida Restricts Doctors From Providing Gender Treatments to Minors. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/health/florida-gender-care-minors-medical-board.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (September 26, 2022). More Trans Teens Are Choosing ‘Top Surgery.’ New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/26/health/top-surgery-transgender-teenagers.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (July 28, 2022). England Overhauls Medical Care for Transgender Youth. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/health/transgender-youth-uk-tavistock.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (June 19, 2022). FINA Restricts Transgender Women From Competing at Elite Level. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/19/sports/fina-transgender-women-elite-swimming.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (June 10, 2022). Report Reveals Sharp Rise in Transgender Young People in the U.S. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/10/science/transgender-teenagers-national-survey.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (May 4, 2022). Few Transgender Children Change Their Minds After 5 Years, Study Finds. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/04/health/transgender-children-identity.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (April 21, 2022). When Texas Went After Transgender Care, Part 2. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/podcasts/the-daily/texas-trans-teenagers-care.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (April 20, 2022). When Texas Went After Transgender Care, Part 1. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/podcasts/the-daily/transgender-teenagers-clinic-texas.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (March 17, 2022). Lia Thomas Wins an N.C.A.A. Swimming Title. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/17/sports/lia-thomas-swimmer-wins.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (March 8, 2022). Texas Youth Gender Clinic Closed Last Year Under Political Pressure. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/08/health/texas-transgender-clinic-genecis-abbott.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (March 1, 2022). Texas Investigates Parents Over Care for Transgender Youth, Suit Says. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/us/texas-child-abuse-trans-youth.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (February 23, 2022). Texas Governor Pushes to Investigate Medical Treatments for Trans Youth as ‘Child Abuse.’ New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/science/texas-abbott-transgender-child-abuse.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (February 16, 2022). Trans Swimmer Revives an Old Debate in Elite Sports: What Defines a Woman? New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/science/lia-thomas-testosterone-womens-sports.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (February 2, 2022). N.C.A.A. to Review U.S.A. Swimming’s New Policy for Transgender Athletes. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/02/sports/usa-swimming-transgender-athletes-ncaa-lia-thomas.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (January 13, 2022). Doctors Debate Whether Trans Teens Need Therapy Before Hormones. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/health/transgender-teens-hormones.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (October 8, 2016). The US Has Run Out Of Injectable Estrogen For Trans Women — Again. BuzzFeed News https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/azeenghorayshi/estrogen-shortage

 Ghorayshi, Azeen (September 30, 2016). American Girl. Buzzfeed News https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/azeenghorayshi/american-girl

Ghorayshi, Azeen (August 5, 2015). Born In-Between: Should Doctors Operate On Intersex Babies? BuzzFeed News https://www.buzzfeed.com/azeenghorayshi/born-in-between

Ghorayshi, Azeen (November 2015). Conversations With Anne Fausto-Sterling. Method Quarterly http://www.methodquarterly.com/2015/11/conversations-with-anne-fausto-sterling/

Resources

Azeen Ghorayshi (azeeng.com)

New York Times (nytimes.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

  • azeen_g [deleted]

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Muck Rack (muckrack.com)

Method Quarterly (methodquarterly.com)