Exhibit 83: The MRC's Year Of Freaking Out Over Transgenders

The Media Research Center spent the last part of 2020 and all of 2021 in continuous meltdown mode over the idea that transgender people exist and appear on TV.

By Terry Krepel
Posted 8/19/2022

Matt Philbin lost it in October 2020 when the pro-breastfeeding La Leche League expressed supporting a tweet for "chestfeeding" as part of a declaration of inclusiveness, sneering that it was "an attempt to get out ahead of the trans bullies," going on to whine that the organization "blocked your humble author" on Twitter before he could link to the tweet.

Purporting to review the HBO film "Transhood," about transgender children, Elise Ehrhard declared in November 2020 that parents who allow their children to explore their gender identity are engaging in "child abuse," and added this sneering description of a transgender teen:

Fifteen-year-old "Leena" is a boy who thinks he looks and sounds like a girl because he takes hormones, cakes on make-up and dresses in feminine clothes. He decided he was a girl at age 7 after his parents' divorce. Like many male-to-female transgenders, his make-up, mannerisms and looks are so "perfect" and cliched in their hyper-femininity that it is painful to watch as a real woman. His voice is clearly the voice of a transgender individual rather than a biological woman. At the end of the documentary, Leena gets castration surgery.

This was followed by a post from Gabriel Hays cheering on right-wing attacks of HBO over the film.

Later that month, Alexander Hall cried censorship when YouTube deleted two anti-trans episodes of right-wing activist Candace Owens' show for violating its anti-hate policy; Hall framed the shows as "defending traditional gender differences" and was very light on the full content on those shows. He then defended one author who wrote an anti-trans book titled "Irreversible Damage," insisting that it "is not a scathing condemnation of transgender individuals, but rather a discussion about the lifelong effects of serious medical interventions that she says are occurring 'too fast with too little oversight.'"

Lindsay Kornick took the job of writing derisively in December 2020 about actor Ellen Page's announcement that she is transgender and now known as Elliot Page:

In non-Corona or election-related news, actress Ellen Page has officially come out as a queer trans person. Somehow, this still isn’t the most bizarre thing Page has ever said.

On December 1, Page took to Twitter to post a letter regarding this “coming out” as it were. The letter opens with the actor stating that “I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot.” How one can be both “he” and “they” is confusing enough, but the message continues. “He” spends a paragraph thanking and praising the trans community for their courage, generosity, and “ceaselessly working to make this world a more inclusive and compassionate place.” I assume that means an “inclusive and compassionate place” unless you disagree with them.

Of course, this wouldn’t be an Ellen Page screed, or rather an Elliot Page screed, if there wasn’t more political posturing.

Kornick returned that month to complain about the TV show "Big Sky" for having a transgender character who says she knew she was transgender when she was quite young:

Most four-year-olds can barely tell you what street they live on, but Jerrie could apparently tell people s/he was a girl. Even worse, at fourteen, s/he was ready to really become a girl despite being born a boy. Considering a majority of children experiencing gender dysphoria grow out of it by puberty, this is probably the opposite message this show should send to people. That’s not to mention the fact that Jerrie’s definition of being a girl is liking dresses and dolls. Just last month, we were forced to claim Harry Styles could still be manly while wearing a dress, and yet Jerrie must be a girl if s/he liked them as a kid. And that says nothing of all the tomboy girls of the world.

(Yes, the MRC was quite triggered by Harry Styles in a dress.)

Ehrhard came back to grumble about the "woke gender agenda" of the "Save By the Bell" reboot, what with its "contemporary left-wing obsessions with LGBTQIA (particularly trans), race, and radical feminism," with a particular focus on a transgender character named Jamie: "Lexi has a crush on the straight male football player, Jamie. Lexi and Jamie reveal their attraction for each other and kiss at the end of the series. The viewer is supposed to pretend this is a male-female kiss. Actually, it is a homosexual relationship between two biological males, one of whom is taking hormones, dressing up in girl's clothes and 'acting' female. Lexie will never have the chromosomes or biological parts of a woman no matter what surgeons do. It is an insult to biological woman to pretend otherwise."

Likewise, Karen Townsend was quite upset that Netflix's "raunchy animated series" "Big Mouth" introduced a transgender character: "It’s too bad but these days, a transgender character is the new requirement in television and online series. Every series must have a trans character to be sufficiently woke, even a show about middle school kids."

Sergie Daez's head exploded while contemplating the idea of a transgender male is competing on "RuPaul's Drag Race":

One reason why right-wingers don’t like the wokes is because they make simple things extremely confusing. For instance, take gender. One is either male or female. But the wokes, with their infernal LGBTQ agenda, wanted to shake that simple formula up. Now the world has transgenderism, with transgender people being born as males, but later decide that they should actually be females, and vice versa. The premise is confusing (particularly for the sense of sight), but that’s nothing compared to a person called Gottmik. Prepare to be mind-boggled.

According to thewrap.com, makeup artist Gottmik (pictured) became the first ever transgender male drag queen on the show RuPaul’s Drag Race. Gottmik stated that “he” is “a trans man who is changing the face of drag.”

That’s not the only thing he changed. To make it entirely clear, since Gottmik is a trans man, “he” was born a woman, but now he's a man dressing up as a woman in drag.

If you find this hard to understand, don’t reproach yourself.

[...]

It’s guaranteed that Gottmik will win the hearts of all left-wingers while obliterating the minds of all right-wingers.

Yes, Daez's mind is clearly quite obliterated.

Gabriel Hays kept up the transphobia in a Dec. 15, 2020, post:

You know you’re old when you can think back on a time when Cartoon Network proudly gendered their cartoon characters. Nowadays, “The Powerpuff Girls” wouldn’t be considered inclusive enough for the children’s entertainment network. Case in point: the animation channel’s latest social media post which tells kids that being a pansexual genderqueer androgynous whatever is just as normal as being a boy or a girl.

Cartoon Network, like almost everything else in this earthly realm, is seemingly suffering from a bout of leftwing crazy.

On December 14, the channel’s Twitter account posted a series of educational comic strips featuring trans propaganda for the edification of viewers, most of which are children obviously. In any normal circles, this would be viewed as the opposite of kid friendly or educational.

[...]

Still, the channel captioned its post, saying, “Here's to not only normalizing gender pronouns, but respecting them, too. Whether you use he/she/them or something else, we acknowledge and LOVE you!” What they meant to say is, here’s to normalizing mental illness in innocent schoolchildren.

As 2021 rolled around, Tierin-Rose Mandelberg cranked out a January post dramatically headlined "Biden’s Title IX Order Erased Women on His First Day. Twitter Noticed." That, of course, is a malicious lie: Mandelberg was a woman before Biden's order, and she remained one afterward. Mandelberg then served up her definition of what President Biden's executive order to cover gender identity and sexual orientation under the Title IX guidelines governing women's sports:

Essentially, Biden’s trans-friendly order expanded the nondiscrimination protections of the LGBTQ community, prohibiting all workplace and educational discrimination against gender identity and sexual orientation. But, in addition to at least recognizing the existence of a right of association, Trump’s policy supported the difference between biological women and confused men.

Title IX was originally intended to ensure equal access and academic experience for women in higher education. But it has since progressed to locker rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms, creating plenty of potentially uncomfortable (at the minimum) situations for women.

But the liberal overreach does real harm. In sports, for example, a biological male identifying as a “female” is inevitably going to beat out a real female if allowed to compete against her. As this situation gets more common (and the Trans industry very much wants it to) it will start depriving women athletes of scholarships, advancement opportunities, and honest victories. Biological men will dominate a sphere constructed solely for women.

Liberals claim to fight against male dominance --- ironic. This isn’t about inequality or being transphobic. It’s about taking away the honor of being born a woman.

Notice how quick she was to define Biden's order as "liberal" and smears transgender women as "confused." In fact, as a fact-checker pointed out:

The executive order does not address athletics beyond the mention of discrimination in "school sports." Further, transgender amateur athletes already have policies they must follow in order to compete.

According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which oversees 24 sports at over 1,000 colleges and universities, gender confirming surgery or legal recognition of a player's transitioned sex is not required in order for transgender players to participate on a team.

When hormones are used, the NCAA requires one year of hormone treatment for trans female athletes prior to competing on a women's team, and trans male athletes remain eligible to compete in women's sports until the athlete begins a physical transition using testosterone.

[...]

For K-12, according to Transathlete.com, policies vary by state and and school district, with 16 states having policies in place that facilitate the full inclusion of transgender, nonbinary and gender nonconforming students in high school athletics. There are 14 states that require medical proof, and 10 states that did not issue statewide practices but allow schools to create their own policies on a case-by-case basis.

So Biden's executive order barely mentions school sports, but Mandelberg falsely tried to portray the order as mostly about it. That's a mischaracterization that, unsprurpisingly, occurred across right-wing media. Nevertheless, Mandelberg concluded by ranting: "Do they not realize they take the special part of womanhood away by allowing anyone and everyone to identify as one at any time? Where does women’s empowerment go if anybody can just decide to be a woman? Obviously, it doesn’t take strength or power. Tomorrow, you can identify as a woman, too, and then go back again the next day, if you'd like."

No, Tierin-Rose, that's not how being transgender works.

Ranting at fictional transgender people

Kornick complained in February about a fictional character who is transgender:

Here I thought cop dramas were the only shows under leftist scrutiny. Before it’s even aired, CBS’s new Silence of the Lambs drama Clarice is drawing attention from transgender activists. So much so, the series now has a token transgender character to discuss the “complicated legacy” of the original film. Liberals should just put out a list of things that aren’t “complicated” at this point.

Kornick is complaining that the trans character is meant to sort of undo the character of Buffalo Bill in the original movie: "Considering The Silence of the Lambs is one of only three movies to win all of the top five Oscar categories, I don’t think anyone on this show is qualified to lecture it, much less a trans activist." We thought the MRC believed award shows like the Oscars were worthless.

Kornick returned in May to grouse that the show's transgender character continued to get more screen time: "The episode itself was also written by a trans writer, lest the show stray from the transgender narrative for a second. Sadly, the character looks to be staying around, so the propaganda may just be beginning."

Alexa Moutevelis lashed out in February against more fictional transgender people:

ABC’s The Good Doctor might want to change its name to The Woke Doctor. After previous episodes this season supported Black Lives Matter and abortion, Monday night’s episode, “Irresponsible Salad Bar Practices,” offered the double whammy of a pregnant trans man and systemic racism in medicine.

The episode began with trans man Rio Gutierrez (played by trans actor Emmett Preciado) at the hospital to receive treatment for a pituitary tumor. Rio tells the doctors about being engaged to a man, while the doctors bemoan the “messed-up software” that correctly records Rio’s gender as female.

MRC executive Tim Graham devoted his March 11 column to complaining that "Our dominant media’s celebration of transgenderism must inevitably include the distorted sounds of our tastemakers becoming transfixed by trans fiction," complaining that the new book "Detransition, Baby" was "subverting the 'dominant narrative' of the gender binary." He was further upset that the book is being developed into a TV series, huffing, "This is another reason why a new Gallup poll finds almost 16 percent of Generation Z (college-age) Americans now identify as LGBT.

Ehrhard declared on March 18 that she wouldn't use Pantene shampoo anymore (though she offered no proof she hever did) because it did a commercial featuring "LGBTQ propaganda":

Time to find a new shampoo brand. The hair care company Pantene is now pushing LGBTQ propaganda with its products. The brand that became famous for a classic 1980s commercial featuring an attractive woman looking into the camera and saying, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful," has now hopped on the trans agenda that erases women altogether to promote "transgender visibility."

Pantene's new commercial features lesbian parents Ashley and Ellie and their gender dysphoric child Sawyer. Sawyer is a biological boy who now says he is a girl.

[...]

Pantene has a series of ads on YouTube promoting the agenda of Gay, Inc. and transgenderism, in particular, under the hashtag #HairHasNoGender. Pantene is owned by Proctor and Gamble, the same company that created the insulting 2019 "We Believe" ad which portrayed men as inherently toxic. Procter and Gamble saw the value of the Gillette brand tumble after that.

Hopefully, Pantene products will now face the same financial fate as Gillette. Refusing to buy their products will send the company the message that healthy adults do not think child abuse is beautiful.

Ehrhard went on to rant that the parents helping the child with identity amounted to "normalization of child abuse." Also: The CNBC article Ehrhard cited to blame a reduction in "the value of the Gillette brand" on that one ad doesn't mention the ad at all; instead, it cites increased competition that has disrupted Gillette's traditional business model and the fact that fewer men are shaving.

Mandelburg chimed in to grouse that even the "Star Wars" universe isn't exempt from not hating transgender people:

Unfortunately, this isn’t an April Fools joke. Star Wars: The High Republic has once again joined the alphabet community.

On Wednesday March 31, the Star Wars social accounts released the exclusive cover for High Republic #6. In “honor” of Trans Day of Visibility, a made up holiday to bring awareness to the deeply confused and attention-starved, Star Wars shoved politics down fans’ throats once again.

The woke is strong with the brand. The cover featured Jedi characters, Terec and Ceret, who are “non-binary.”

She then sneered: "Someone call up Star Wars and ask why these non-binary characters aren’t holding rainbow lightsabers! Where are the SJWs when we need them!?" Sounds like Mandelburg is the one who's feeling starved for attention by needing to spew her anti-trans hate.

Dawn Slusher found her own fictional transgender person to rage in an April post:

Another show from Hollywood, another liberal lecture on transgenderism. This time it’s ABC’s A Million Little Things, and the lecture is that a transgender woman is the “same person” as a man who became paralyzed in a tragic accident, because neither of them had a choice in their circumstances - him being in a wheelchair and her being “born in a man’s body.”

In Wednesday’s episode, “Trust Me,” Eddie (David Giuntoli) is in a rehab facility after realizing he’d fallen off the wagon and broken his sobriety after becoming addicted to pain pills prescribed to him when he was hit by a car and paralyzed from the waist down. Jackie (Bobbi Charlton) is a fellow addict and has become somewhat of a sponsor to Eddie. Jackie’s also a transgender woman.

As the two are playing a game of cards, they begin to converse about their respective situations, leading Jackie to tell Eddie that they are the same person because “(she) can’t be the version of who they want (her) to be:”

Slusher then lectured a transgender person who doesn't actually exist in real life:

Wow. So many mistakes with what you just said, Jackie. Yes, you’re a human being who is worthy of love despite your flaws, just like Eddie. Just like any other human being. But you didn’t choose to be yourself. You chose to allow our culture to convince you that healing your gender dysmorphia can be found in genital mutilation, harsh hormonal injections, and pretending to be someone you’re not. If being transgender means truly being yourself, why the need for the hormones and surgery?

Instead of helping those with this disorder be who God created them to be through intensive therapy, our culture is letting them down by teaching them to be someone they are not while telling them that’s who they really are. And that is a tragedy; so I guess in that way Jackie is like Eddie, who is dealing with the fallout of his tragedy. They are both biological males, as well, so that was also correct.

I’m pretty sure Eddie’s pronouns are “he/him,” by the way, so I don’t think he needs to find “her” inside of himself and let “her” out.Jackie misgendered him. How inconvenient when liberal ideology bumps up against itself like that. I guess transgenderism is higher up on the liberal ladder than personal pronouns are, so they can just ignore that bit of hypocrisy in order to promote their idea of the greater “good.”

It's sad to see someone waste so much hate on a fictional character.

Veronica Hays spewed transphobia at Nickelodeon in a June item:

Just in case kids haven’t gotten the message that gender confusion is cool, Nickelodeon is offering yet more LGBTQRX (and sometimes Y) propaganda for juveniles.

A new episode of the live-action series Danger Force will feature the first-ever transgender character and actor in Nickelodeon’s history. Sasha A. Cohen, a 13 year-old transgender boy, in reality, a biological female, was handpicked by the show’s creator Michael D. Cohen (no relation) to accomplish this groundbreaking moment in TV history.

The young transgender caught Cohen’s attention as one of the applicants for his Trans Youth Acting Challenge meant to help trans and binary youth excel in the entertainment industry. (And to promote the Trans agenda to teens.)

[...]

The poor girl-turned-boy is being used as a prop to further promote a system of insidious lies surrounding biological sex that manifests itself in the destruction of otherwise normal children.

Meanwhile, Hays clearly wants to destroy transgender people by keeping them from holding jobs and to make the world hostile (if not violent) to them.

Slusher did some hate-watching a few days later:

Does the "+" in Disney+ stand for LGBTQ+? If we go by Disney+'s brief history of constantly inserting the LGBTQ agenda into its many shows, the answer would likely be yes. And now the streaming service has featured a lesbian kiss among underage girls (possibly its first) in its “family” sports drama Big Shot that has a target audience as young as age 8. We've sadly come a long way from innocent Mickey Mouse cartoons.

There have been hints of Disney’s agenda in the other “family” shows I watch on their streaming service, such as The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers in which one young character let everyone know he has two moms in almost every episode. But when they actually depict a physical, lesbian kiss between two minor girls for an eight-year-old audience, that’s definitely going too far.

Slusher didn't explain what this supposed "LGBTQ agenda" is.

A September post by Ehrhard complained that a TV show accommodated transgender reality:

What do you do when you are adapting a dystopian graphic novel about a plague that kills almost all the men in the world, but woke lunatics can no longer define "man" and "woman"?

You get a show in which a female president says stupid things like, "We've found plenty of men. None with a Y chromosome."

[...]

In our new woke era, a show based on a graphic novel about the death of men must deny that male and female is in fact a chromosomal reality.

But if you're searching for Y chromosomes, isn't it realistic to note the existence of transgender people?

Spewing transphobia

In May, Tim Graham whined that "Pronouns were harmed in the making of this 'news' segment"on NPR on the first transgender Lutheran bishop. He referred to the reality of transgender people facing heightened suicide risk as "propaganda":

The propaganda paint-by-numbers hits the usual note of traumatized transgender people on the verge of suicide. Block explained "Rohrer hopes it's a moment, especially for transgender people, that will change and even save lives." Rohrer explained: "There's almost not a week that goes by that someone doesn't reach out to me on social media and say, 'I chose to live today because I knew you existed.'"

In June, Gabriel Hays complained that the Supreme Court wouldn't take up the case of transgender bathroom bans that a lower court found unconstitutional, lamenting that "For SCOTUS to allow such a ruling to be upheld seems to say that they don’t see a pressing need to differentiate between biological females and trans women; and the same for trans men and biological men – at least for the moment."

Also that month, Abigail Streetman was mad at a congresswoman who refused to hate her transgender child:

Newman, who has gained popularity on twitter for her childish behavior of putting up a trans flag to purposefully spite Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Right up front Teen Vogue tells us that Newman is another cupcake who was traumatized by Trump's 2016 victory and afraid Orangeman would “roll back” all of her son's rights.

Now she's all bothered by Republicans' “fresh wave of transphobic legislation being proposed and passed in states nationwide,” and that the GOP is “using trans kids as its cudgel.”

[...]

What an outstanding parent! Your son is struggling with a mental illness and instead of seeking help you decide to encourage it. These are the kinds of stories that Teen Vogue wants your children to read. Not to mention that the entire point of the interview was to promote Newman’s agenda and push the Equality Act.

A September post by Moutevelis attacked the medical journal The Lancet used the term "bodies with vaginas" in a story about menstrual shame:

Is that what women have been reduced to? “Bodies with vaginas”? Along with the ghastly quote the cover highlighted, the featured article also used the terms “menstruators” and “people who menstruate.”

Out of sensitivity to a tiny fraction of the population who might not want to identify with their true sex, Lancet offended half the population. They effectively erased women and lost any remaining shred of scientific credibility in the process.

The Lancet is a medical journal. Moutevelis is a highly biased political activist. Who knows more about medicine?

In October, Graham was upset that an right-wing congressman's transphobia was called out:

On Sunday afternoon's CNN Newsroom, anchor Jim Acosta and Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter decried Congressman Jim Banks as Twitter blocked his congressional Twitter account for proclaiming trans woman Biden appointee Rachel Levine was a "man." This was a "game," Stelter said, and a "political stunt."

Most of Jim Acosta's career during the Trump years was a political stunt.

Deputy HHS Secretary Rachel Levine (formerly Richard) was sworn in a a four-star admiral last Tuesday to the U.S. Public Health Service Commission Corps. Banks tweeted, “The title of the first female four-star officer gets taken by a man.”

[...]

This is another opportunity for liberal journalists who boast they are "fact-based" to proclaim against all biological evidence that men can decide to become women, and everyone must honor their lifestyle choice. Twitter’s “hateful conduct” policy expressly prohibits referring to a transgender person by a gender other than the one they choose.

And Graham seems determined to seize this opportunity to display his hatred for anyone not like him ... like transgender people and genuine journalists.

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