Marc Lacey is an American journalist involved in anti-transgender coverage at the New York Times. Lacey was a Managing Editor during the paper’s sharp rise in anti-transgender coverage in the 2020s.
No transgender journalist has appeared on the New York Times masthead since its founding in 1851.
Background
After graduating from Cornell in 1987, Lacey got a job at The Buffalo News, then at The Los Angeles Times. Lacey was promoted to a permanent LA Times staff position. The LA Times moved him to Washington, DC, where he was soon hired by The New York Times DC bureau. He then reported fro m Kenya for five years and Mexico for four. After covering events like the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Lacey transferred to Times headquarters in New York.
Lacey was national editor for four years, then assistant managing editor, before being named managing editor alongside Carolyn Ryan.
2023 anti-transgender campaign
After hundreds of Time contributors protested how the Times was covering trans issues, Lacey colleague Carolyn Ryan said in an all-hands meeting:
“I want to talk to you briefly about journalistic independence. We donât do our work in an effort to please organizations, governments, presidents, activist groups, ideological groups.”
Ryan complained about “the modern media landscape, which these days has populated with so many more partisan players.” She then praised Megan Twoheyâs “thoughtful, careful, well-reported story looking at medical treatment for teens who are transitioning and the lack of scientific research around some of the puberty blockers.”
Ryan concluded, saying
“And sometimes that will be an annoying note on deadlines saying, you know, we can’t use that language because it reallyâŠreflects an activist-group way of looking at an issue and we donât want to do that, [because it’s] key to how we think about attracting new, more readers and satisfying a need thatâs really out there.”
âVery nicely put, Carolyn,â said Lacey.
References
Klein, Charlotte (February 27, 2023). Inside the New York Times blowup over transgender coverage. Vanity Fair https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/new-york-times-trans-coverage-debate
Reilly, Patrick (February 15, 2023). New York Times accused of âeditorial biasâ in coverage of transgender issues. New York Post https://nypost.com/2023/02/15/new-york-times-blasted-for-editorial-bias-in-transgender-coverage/
Bolies, Corbin (March 7, 2023). The New York Timesâ Trans Coverage Debacle Was Years in the Making. The Daily Beast https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-new-york-times-trans-coverage-debacle-was-years-in-the-making
Bolies, Corbin; Cartwright, Lachlan (February 16, 2023). New York Times blasts staffers who condemned paperâs trans coverage. The Daily Beast https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-york-times-blast-staffers-who-condemned-papers-trans-coverage
Eckert, AJ. What the New York Times gets wrong about puberty blockers for transgender youth. Science-Based Medicine https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/what-the-new-york-times-gets-wrong-about-puberty-blockers-for-transgender-youth/
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.pdf
Urquhart, Evan (November 17, 2022). The NYT’s big piece on puberty blockers mucked up the most important point about them. Slate https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/puberty-blockers-side-effects-controversy.html
Oladipo, Gloria (February 18, 2023). Nearly 1,000 contributors protest New York Times’ coverage of trans people. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/17/new-york-times-contributors-open-letter-protest-anti-trans-coverage
Migdon, Brooke (February 15, 2023). NYT contributors blast paper’s coverage of transgender people. The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3859501-nyt-contributors-blast-papers-coverage-of-transgender-people/
Yurcaba, Jo (February 16, 2023). N.Y. Times contributors and LGBTQ advocates send open letters criticizing paper’s trans coverage. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/ny-contributors-lgbtq-advocates-send-open-letters-criticizing-papers-t-rcna70800
Paul, Larisha (February 15, 2023). Gabrielle Union, Tommy Dorfman, more accuse NYT of ‘Harmful’ coverage of trans people. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/new-york-times-coverage-of-trans-people-open-letter-1234680299/
Kalish, Lil. These New York Times contributors say the paper’s coverage of gender issues is hurting trans people. BuzzFeed News. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lilkalish/trans-writers-open-letter-nyt-biased-coverage
Hays, Gabriel (February 15, 2023). Celebs rip into New York Times for ‘irresponsible’ transgender coverage: Demand end to ‘both sides’ focus. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/media/celebs-rip-new-york-times-irresponsible-transgender-coverage-demand-end-both-sides-focus
Dunlap, David W. (June 19, 2017). How The Times gave ‘gay’ its own voice (again). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
Klein, Charlotte (February 15, 2023). Nearly 200 New York Times contributors are denouncing the paper’s anti-trans coverage. Vanity Fair. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/new-york-times-trans-coverage
Davies, Rachel (February 16, 2023). The NYT knew what it was doing with its ‘Defense of J.K. Rowling’. The Mary Sue. https://www.themarysue.com/the-nyt-knew-what-it-was-doing-with-its-defense-of-j-k-rowling/
Warrington, James (February 16, 2023). How the New York Times was engulfed by a trans culture war. The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/02/15/new-york-times-accused-writers-anti-trans-bigotry/
Mastrangelo, Dominick (February 16, 2023). NYT editors: Paper ‘will not tolerate’ its journalists protesting coverage of transgender people. The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/3862101-nyt-editors-paper-will-not-tolerate-its-journalists-protesting-coverage-of-transgender-people/amp/
Rubinson, Sofia; Pacitto, Gabriella (May 9, 2022). Marc Lacey â87 â A Sunnie rises at The New York Times. The Cornell Daily Sun https://cornellsun.com/2022/05/09/marc-lacey-a-sunnie-rises-at-the-new-york-times/
Resources
New York Times (nytimes.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Muck Rack (https://muckrack.com/marclacey)