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Marc Lacey vs. transgender people

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 don’t 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 Twohey’s “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 really
reflects an activist-group way of looking at an issue and we don’t want to do that, [because it’s] key to how we think about attracting new, more readers and satisfying a need that’s really out there.”

“Very nicely put, Carolyn,” 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 ‘editorial bias’ 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 Times’ 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 paper’s 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 peopleThe 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 peopleThe 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 coverageNBC 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 peopleRolling 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 peopleBuzzFeed 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’ focusFox 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 TimesISSN 0362-4331.

Klein, Charlotte (February 15, 2023). Nearly 200 New York Times contributors are denouncing the paper’s anti-trans coverageVanity 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 warThe 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 peopleThe 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 ’87 — 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)