Topic: Media Research Center
The transphobia at the Media Research Center never stops -- the anti-trans hate it spewed during pride month continued through the rest of the summer. That hate, though, occasionally has to be supplemented by other misinformation; A July 2 post by Kevin Tober complained that MSNBC host Jen Psaki "concocted a bizarre conspiracy theory that the Republican Party is rehashing the so-called 'southern strategy' (which itself is a debunked conspiracy theory) to “recruit” Muslim Americans to 'go after' transgender people." Tober's evidence that the Southern strategy is a "debunked conspiracy theory" is a link to an article by noted fabricator Dinesh D'Souza, so that didn't exactly age well. Tim Graham melted down over a transgender politician in a July 6 post:
Liberal media outlets are forever congratulating Democrats for "trailblazer" candidates. On Wednesday's The Lead with Jake Tapper, CNN turned its focus on Delaware, where Sen. Tom Carper is retiring. That means black Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester will run for Senate, leaving an open House seat for fellow Democrat Sarah McBride, a former Beau Biden aide who is transgender. They not only congratulated McBride for her "historic" possibility, but for open that "lifelong Catholic" Joe Biden's mind to "transgender rights."
Graham further complained that in another CNN segment, the correspondent "explained it was a 'perilous time' for transgenders 'given the way transgender rights have been so politicized by members of the Republican Party.'" Graham didn't disprove the claim.
A July 14 post by Cassandra DeVries complained that Republicans who tried to impose their transphobia on the deffense budget were called out:
CNN This Morning bashed Republicans for a military spending bill that excluded payments for abortion, diversity promotion, and transgender care to military personnel on Friday. Its reporters exaggerated the past bipartisanism of the bill, claimed Republicans were throwing a fit and using the military as a political pawn, and seemingly compared the cut benefits to rolling back racial integration.
Anchor Phil Mattingly introduced the bill as “the cornerstone of U.S. defense policy” and “a pillar of bipartisan agreement,” and CNN congressional correspondent Lauren Fox referred to more than 60 years of bipartisan support this bill previously received.
[...]
Once again, CNN disparaged Republicans. This time painting them as malicious, anti-military “hardliners” for refusing to pay for transition surgeries, hormone treatments, and abortions for military personnel. CNN did not mention the negative mental health affects accompanying each of the aforementioned procedures or money Republicans saved tax payers.
Instead of objectively laying the facts before viewers, CNN censored the conservative point of view and sought to villainize Republicans with a distorted presentation of the news.
Chief transphobe Tierin-Rose Mandelburg complained in a July 21 post that a a British bank reportedly denied an account to a British anti-transgender group: "It’s become increasingly common for establishments like banks to not only dip their toes into areas of bias, but dive in head-first. These establishments are choosing to push a narrative rather than merely perform their jobs." Funny, we remember that the MRC was totally cool with people refusing to do business for ideological reasons when it came to web designers who didn't want to design websites for LGBT people, even portraying that hate as "free speech."
A July 25 post by Curtis Houck groused that media pointed out the anti-transgender school policies of Virginia's Republican governor:
In reaction to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s (R-VA) new policy unveiled last week for schools regarding transgenderism, local media in the D.C. market (including an NPR affiliate) and across the Potomac in Virginia again twisted themselves into nervous knots over how on Earth voters in the Commonwealth could have elected someone in a platform of parental involvement in education.
[...]
Washington-area NBC affiliate WRC published an article that sympathized with transgender students being unable to be openly celebrated in schools versus parents having the right to know what their child may (or may not) be doing in school.
In “Youngkin’s new policies will affect transgender students. Here’s what may change,” Julie Carey and Maggie More fretted that the “controversial new education policy...affecting the way transgender students are treated...runs counter to the plans some school districts have put in place in recent years.”’
After bashing Youngkin for focusing on “what he calls ‘parents rights’” that “were ignored and disregarded by his predecessor Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration,” it took until the fifth paragraph to actually explain what Youngkin announced that a child’s identity rests with parents, not a child or teacher’s personal whims[.]
Of course, by that same logic, the parents are operating on "whims" as well. Later, Houck effectively admitted the transphobic intent of the policy by noting another news segment featuring a parent with a transgender child who opposes the policy, adding that "the policy doesn’t even affect families ... who wholly endorse their child permanently altering their bodies, chemically, physically, and metaphorically."
Alex Christy spent a July 29 post being mad that PolitiFact explained what "chestfeeding" was in response to attacks by Republican transphobes:
Grace Abels, “a staff writer focused on LGBTQ issues,” for PolitiFact came out with an explainer piece on Friday that sought to defend the practice of “chestfeeding” for “people who identify as men or as nonbinary.” Seriously, this is a fact-checking outlet.
Naturally, the piece originated due to the fact that “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has frequently faced political criticism. But a new wave hit in early July over breastfeeding — or ‘chestfeeding,’ as the agency described it on a website.”
After referencing a couple of tweets, Abels also mentioned “U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., a former OB-GYN, condemned the CDC’s language and expressed concern over medications that may be taken to induce lactation.”
Abels then stepped in to attempt to save the day, “Some of the claims misrepresented what chestfeeding is, how the term is used and raised fears over medications involved in induced lactation.”
[...]
Not only did PolitiFact go to bat for the absurdist notion that men can get pregnant and that “breastfeeding” can be a problematic word, but its entire premise that “chestfeeding” is just as good as breastfeeding required that the reader not click on the link to see that Republican senator was correct to be worried.
Mandelburg returned for another meltdown in an Aug. 7 post over a razor company featuring a transgender person in an ad:
Harry’s Razors is a men's razor company. Recently it partnered with a transgender man, aka a biological woman, to promote its products.
Over the weekend, the Twitter account called End Wokeness shared a video of a “man” named Luke Pearson. “He’s” a transgender male, so a female, and was promoting one of Harry’s “Face & Body Shave Sets.” The set included a Harry’s razor for a man's face and a razor from Harry's women's company, Flamingo, for customers to shave their bodies.
"My cringe radar is currently off the charts," Mandelburg sneered, going out to tout how "numerous conservative or just level-headed people tweeted their distaste with the company's move and Pearson in general." She went on to state that "Some even called for a boycott of the brand like people did for Budlight and Target when they prioritized agenda pushing over basically everything else," oblivious to the irony that she -- a person who gets paid to push agendas -- is accusing someone else of "agenda pushing."
Clay Waters raged that a transgender person was on his TV in an Aug. 22 post:
In the latest example of a tax-funded media outlet blurring obvious biological lines for ideological purposes, PBS News Weekend’s Saturday edition celebrated a Montana teen, “assigned female at birth,” who started taking puberty blockers at 14 and “feels a connection to masculinity.”
Host John Yang introduced the segment on Montana “banning certain medical treatments for minors with gender dysphoria.”
The segment opened in the Beardslee home in Helena, Montana, with a teenager making fried rice for the family. Then came a blizzard of head-scratching language from both the teenager and reporter Joe Lesar of the tax-supported journalistic enterprise Montana PBS.
[...]
Is this journalism or therapy? Stories on children with gender dysphoria typically advocate for them and their feelings, and suggest opposition is heartless.
Waters also whined that the segment quoted state Rep. Zooey Zephyr, "a biological man who identifies as transgender"; the MRC hates Zephyr for standing up for transgender rights. He also complained that the segment "said opponents 'consider' this a "'fad' without exploring the statistics," but the statistics he cites showing that more younger people identify as transgender prove nothing.
An anonymously written Aug. 27 post, credited only to "MRC Latino Staff," lashed out at Telemundo for not hating transgender people and, thus, promoting a "trans agenda":
Comcast-NBC affiliate Telemundo does whatever they can to preserve the mothership’s perfect Corporate Equality Index score. This includes blatantly promoting the trans agenda, such as is the case in this report from the network’s weekend newscast.
Watch as correspondent Solangie Sosa unquestioningly parrots trans activist language while profiling a transgender student (born female) who opposes a new Florida rule that would compel college students to use the bathroom corresponding to their actual biological anatomy:
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The report ran for 2 minutes and 12 seconds, but only provided 17 seconds to a supporter of the rule. The rest of the interviews were with opponents of the rule, and as you can see from the clip above, the report veered off of actual journalism and into outright trans advocacy.
The most unintentionally funny moment of the report is the moment, towards the end of the featured clip, where the correspondent flushes a toilet as filler video. This very neatly encapsulated the seriousness this report should be accorded.
The unhinged anti-transgender hate by the MRC neatly encapsulates the seriousness its rantings should be accorded.
