The MRC's Transphobic Rage At Pride Month, Part 1

The anti-transgender hate the Media Research Center has been displaying all year unsurprisingly bled into Pride Month in June, with lots of anger at anyone who doesn't parrot their hate.

By Terry Krepel
Posted 12/4/2023

On Tuesday, the far-left Kansas City Star uncorked a 1,800-word-plus tome of punditry masquerading as a news story melting down over the Kansas legislature’s passage of a bill that seemed unnecessary five or ten years ago in ensuring everyone’s clear on what is a man and a woman.

Worse yet, they oversimplified the mission of the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) (a member of the MRC’s Free Speech Alliance) and smeared them as simply an “anti-trans” organization, never quoted them, and, as NewsBusters can report, spiked a column in support of the bill.

In “Kansas will legally define gender as sex at birth. What that means for transgender rights,” activist reporters Kynala Phillips and Katie Bernard touted six opponents of basic biology over ten quotes (and 11 indirect quotes) but none in support of the measure except that label of IWF.

It came in paragraph three: “The national anti-trans group Independent Women’s Forum has been pushing for this law and similar variations across the country. They say the law is meant to prevent judges from interfering with existing single-sex public spaces.”

Houck failed to explain why the Star must be labeled "far-left" simply for not viciously hating transgender people the way he does. And for all his complaining that the paper "oversimplified the mission" of the IWF, he didn't dispute that it is, in fact, "anti-trans." Houck went on to huff that a Star article on the bill was "teeming with disdain" -- then displayed his own disdain by sneering that an article from a transgender college student was written by "a woman pretending to be man."

A May 5 post by chief transphobe Tierin-Rose Mandelburg complained about criticism of a anti-transgender bill in Florida, so she stuck to approved right-wing talking points and narratives in describing it:

Since the left is only going to present its side of what the bill does, here are the actual details.

Broadly, the bill prohibits minors from receiving “gender-affirming care.” That’s in quotes because when a child is chemically or surgically castrated, their body endures unnecessary and sometimes permanent damages, and that isn’t and shouldn’t ever be referred to as care. Now, the so-called “kidnapping” aspect comes in as the bill would allow a court to temporarily remove a child from his or her home if it's found that they've been provided with these damaging procedures.

[...]

The bill also affirmed that a child's biological sex on his or her birth certificate cannot be modified to affirm a “perception” that a child’s gender is inconsistent with their actual, biological sex.

The bill was set to keep kids safe from parents who allow their children to live a dangerous delusion. But, as mentioned, the left has touted it as the “kidnapping bill.”

The next day, Clay Waters whined that NPR did a story on states passing biological definition laws that didn't buy into anti-transgender narratives:

Wednesday’s edition of All Things Considered on National Public Radio showcased the latest in a long line of stories from tax-funded NPR trying hard to blur obvious biological lines, to further the cause of transgender activism.

The online version of the report -- under the odd headline “These states are narrowly defining who is 'female' and 'male' in law” -- began with a laughable sentence, especially given NPR’s self-image as educated science believers, that implied common biological terms were some kind of bizarre, made-up jargon:

Lawmakers in Montana, Tennessee and Kansas have voted in the past few weeks to narrowly define who is "female" and who is "male" in state law using such terms as "gametes," "ova," "sex chromosomes,"

Ah yes, those obscure terms that define the actual building blocks of life!

Waters returned for a May 13 post effectively complaining that PBS won't hate transgender people enough:

Tax-supported PBS has attracted heat of late for indoctrinating children on “queer,” transgender, and related issues, including through its PBS LearningMedia brand used in schools, under the rubric “Understanding LGBTQ+ Identity: A Toolkit for Educators.”

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed funding for the state’s PBS station for “indoctrination and over-sexualization” of children. Citizens Defending Freedom also called on PBS to be defunded for promoting an LGBT ‘toolkit’ for schools, and cited videos included in the package, including “All Oppression is Connected,” one of many examples of left-wing “intersectionality” propaganda in the education toolkit, which was initially created by the NYC Department of Education.

[...]

Such radical tax-funded PBS content supports the argument that public broadcasting is pushing gender agendas onto children.

Waters didn't explain why it's "indoctrination" and "radical" to not hate transgender people.

A May 16 post by Waters mocked NPR for pointing out how Florida is creating a hostile atmosphere for transgender people:

More taxpayer-supported “gender-affirming” propaganda, full of cringy sentimentality, came courtesy of National Public Radio’s misnamed All Things Considered news program Thursday: “As conservative states target trans rights, a Florida teen flees for a better life” The hagiographic tale under the guise of news was told by Stephanie Colombini, a health reporter for Tampa Bay’s NPR-member station WUSF.

(Colombini, naturally, has pronouns in her Twitter bio. She took the photo that accompanies the story.)

The rearranged print edition of the radio story captured the melodramatic tale of Josie, a teenager forced to “flee” the burgeoning authoritarian regime of....Florida, to start a new life in the free state of Rhode Island.

[...]

NPR even provided two trans-related phone numbers “for support.” Now close your eyes and imagine an alternate universe where NPR provides phone numbers for a pro-life rescue ministry, and realize how far-out the publicly funded radio network has gone out on the limb of "gender affirmation."

Waters didn't explain why it's "propaganda" to not hate transgender people, while his clear and vicious hatred apparently isn't a form of propaganda.

Alex Christy used a May 18 post to attack a parent for understanding her child's transgender identity:

As Texas moves to ban “gender-affirming care” for minors, MSNBC’s Jose Diaz-Balart asked a parent, simply known as Rachel, on Thursday if Republicans were being hypocrites. Naturally, Rachel agreed and claimed that they were and that her daughter (son) knew she (he) was a girl before reaching the age of five.

With some bad moral relativism, Diaz-Balart wondered, “So what parental rights do you think -- are there any limits to parental rights and I'm just wondering because you do -- there are inconsistencies, right in what people define as parental rights.”

[...]

While Rachel did not intend to argue for medical treatment for 5-year olds, she did advocate for “social transition,” claiming “So, the vast majority of transition is social. It is allowing children to be able to show the rest of the world who they are on the inside, and for my daughter, that meant growing her hair out, wearing dresses, and changing her name. So, it’s—there’s really not any kind of medical intervention until puberty and, you know, puberty blockers are totally reversible.”

That assertion is contentious, at best, but parental rights wasn’t the only issue Rachel alleged Republicans were being hypocrites on, “These are used for a variety of different healthcare reasons, not just for transgender youth and that's how we know this is a deeply discriminatory bill, because it is only banning the same healthcare that is accessible to non-transgender children and only, only targets trans kids.”

Yeah, because Johnny thinking he’s Susie is not the same thing as treating someone for precocious puberty or idiopathic short stature.

Christy didn't explain how he -- who, as far as we know, is neither a medical expert nor a parent -- could possibly know better than this mother about her child, or why that attitude doesn't conflict with the usual right-wing posturing that parents always know best when it comes to their children.

Waters spent a May 19 post complaining that the New York Times pointed out how right-wing activists are exploiting a handful of people who detransitioned from being transgender as a tool for anti-transgender activism:

A front-page story in Wednesday’s New York Times fiercely defended trans rights, reducing concerns that activists are leading children to make irrevocable surgical decisions, because they were “born in the wrong body,” to political cynicism: “G.O.P. Focuses On Testimonies Of Trans Regret.” (An earlier version really pressed the editorial thumb to the scale: “G.O.P. Focuses On Rare Stories Of Trans Regret.”)

This “news” attack on those who choose to detransition -- to stop identifying or to stop taking actions towards being transgender -- was reported by Maggie Astor, who stands out even among the paper’s woke staff for her devotion to the transgender cause. Previously she blamed Donald Trump for violence against transgenders, a story which opened with almost a parody of wokeness that had to be corrected later: “Transgender women of color led the uprising at the Stonewall Inn...”

[...]

Astor criticized Chloe Cole, a girl who lived as a transgender male and tragically got a double mastectomy at the age of 15, before detransitioning. Astor defined Cole’s detransition as “returning to her female identity,” not as returning to “biological reality.”

Waters also huffed that "Astor heaped skepticism on the detransitioner 'minority,' something she doesn’t do for people who are convinced they were born in the wrong body."

Into Pride Month

The MRC's unhinged rage against transgender people unsurprisingly ramped up as Pride Month approached. Houck huffed in a May 30 post that a transgender person was on his TV:

On Tuesday, CBS Mornings gave three teases and a lengthy second-hour interview to “model and trans rights activist” Geena Rocero on the heels of Rocero’s memoir Horse Barbie that celebrated their decision to become transgender at 14 years old and how being trans in the United States is “nightmarish.”

Socialist co-host Tony Dokoupil boasted in the first tease: “We will speak with model and trans rights activist, Geena Rocero, who’s telling her powerful life story in a brand new memoir.” In the second, he said Rocero was secretly transgender “for nearly 10 years.”

Dokoupil later said “we’re very excited about our next guest” as Rocero’s an “award-winning producer, model, and transgender rights advocate” who “immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines” as a teenager, but “[f]or nine years, she kept her transgender identity a secret, however, not even her modeling agent knew she had been assigned male at birth” until a 2014 TED talk.

Rocero insisted in the TED Talk that “I was assigned boy at birth, based on the appearance of my genitalia,” but Rocero knew by age five that “I’m a girl” and thus “knew...how to self-identify.”

CBS played all this as normal and uncontroversial, further bolstering their support for transgenderism and grooming children to play fast and loose with their gender and pronouns.

Tim Graham kicked off Pride Month proper with a June 1 post whining about a newspaper article on transgender teens: "The most 'woke' corporations are often media companies. USA Today started out "Pride Month" with some Pride-a-ganda at the top of the front page. The headline was all infomercial." The headline included the quote "But most of all, I'm human." How is that an "informercial"? Graham also complained that it was pointed out that right-wingers like him are targeting transgender people, huffing, "Conservatives oppose their 'existence' -- as in, they want them eliminated?" Graham didn't deny the accuracy of the statement or explain what his final solution for transgender people is.

Graham went on to rant that right-wing anti-transgender hate was not included in a different USA Today article that highlighted right-wing anti-trans legislation:

As you should suspect, there was not one discouraging or critical word anywhere in this piece from conservatives. Instead, readers are lectured that groups are need to "replace misinformed opinions." Does that sound like journalism that's objective? Or does "bothsidesism" need to be "replaced" in public speech?

The the article really need someone like Graham spewing transphobic hate and apparently denying that transgender people are human?

Ana Schau raged at the "trans agenda" and put "rights" for LGBTQ people in scare quotes -- as if she thinks they don't deserve any rights at all -- in a June 2 post:

Erica Hill, anchor of CNN This Morning, chose to celebrate “Pride Month” on Friday morning by “raising the alarm” regarding trans and LGBTQ “rights” alongside Montana State Representative Zooey Zephyr (D), who also happened to be transgender. Hill went so far as to falsely suggest they were “no facts out there” to support the notion that the trans agenda was being targeted at kids.

Hill and co-host, Rahel Solomon, engaged Zephyr in what was essentially a whining match over “the harassment” that the LGBTQ community had received from “restrictions” in recent legislation and “backlash” at companies, such as Kohl’s, that were trying to be “allies” to the LGBTQ community by “selling Pride merchandise.”

Schau played the social contagion card, accusing transgender people of "coming after children" because a right-wing website said they were:

Hill also made a ludicrously false claim that “there are no facts” that trans people were “coming after children,” among other claims:

[...]

This claim was patently absurd because, as the Daily Wire aptly points out, trans and LGBTQ activists do target children—and they’re proud of it too. In a TedTalk on the matter of LGBTQ subjects in children’s media three years ago, LGBTQ rights activist, author, and creator of the series “Queer Stuff for Kids” Lindsey Amer says that “talking to kids about gay stuff is actually crucial” to their development. Amer, who also identifies as “non-binary,” claims that “exposure to diversity is an important part” of a child’s development.

One article from The New York Times and another from EducationWeek indicated that, according to studies, the number of transgender youth has shot up in recent years. Other articles from CNN indicate the importance of children transitioning early to be “consistent,” and& the heightened number of “gender-diverse” high schoolers.

It seems that, rather than not “coming after children” and “trying to change things,” these are the exact goals of that community.

Schau didn't explain why children must instead be taught to be ashamed of who they are and be taught that LGBTQ people must be hated and feared.

A June 6 post by Craig Bannister, reprinted from the sad right-wing blog that once was MRC "news" division CNSNews.com, ranted that the Associated Press "doesn’t just aggressively promote transgender ideology, it even forbids calling it ideology." But he didn't explain how, exactly, it was an "ideology," preferring instead mindless repetition of right-wing terms like "liberal gender ideology."

A post the same day by Graham decided that because a New York Times podcast noted that activists wanted to bring transgender people into the mainstream, that means they started the "wars" over the issue, not right-wing transphobes desperate to keep such people marginalized:

The Left picked the "Rallying Cry" first. But the liberal media always want to warn its audience that the Republicans are always going too far -- even if their "anti-trans" positions are merely defensive. Let's not have boys compete in girls' sports. Let's not allow drastic life-changing "health care" for children that is not reversible.

[...]

The leftist media isn't really seeking to build trust with a mass audience. They have their eye on leftist Twitter and leftist advocacy groups. They're in no way the "mainstream media." As [right-wing media critic] Krakauer shows, the public is strongly against the Left on the "trans kid" issues, and the media is outside the mainstream. At least for now.

Note how Graham blamed this on a sinister and vaguely defined "Left," and that right-wing haters are merely being "defensive" -- though he never explains what, exactly, is the supposed threat to the world that not hating transgender people would bring.

Kevin Tober spent a June 7 post complaining that CNN's Dana Bash called out right-wing hypocrisy on parental rights by highlighting in an interview with Republican presidential candidate Mike Pence how his fellow right-wingers are making gender-affirming treatment illegal in some states even with parental approval:

“I want to ask you about another issue related to this, and that is about what's going on in some legislatures,” Bash started off asking. “Some Republican-controlled states have banned transgender children from receiving gender-affirming care, even with the consent of their parents.”

“You talk a lot about parents' rights. You do it on the campaign trail,” Bash said in an attempt to make Pence look hypocritical. “So why do you believe it's the government's role to overrule what parents decide is best for their own children in this case?”

“I strongly support state legislation, including as we did in Indiana, that bans all gender transition chemical or surgical procedures for kids under the age of 18,” Pence responded.

Bash interjected to ask: “what if their parents support that?”

“There is a reason why you don't let kids get a tattoo before they're 18,” Pence correctly noted.

Attempting to be obnoxious and difficult, Bash huffed: “I don't think the government regulates tattoos.”

Pence immediately shut her down: “When you're talking about something that is absolutely transformational, and that we know from mental health experts more often than not has profound negative deleterious effects on people in the long-term."

[...]

Pence is far too kind to Bash in his answers. The proper response to her question is that it's not tolerant or helpful to children suffering from gender dysphoria to go agree with them that they are the opposite sex. They need proper psychological treatment to help them get through their issues.

Affirming a child who claims to be the opposite sex is no different than agreeing with an anorexic child when they tell you that they're fat.

Houck returned for a June 9 post declaring that you are "godless" if you don't hate transgender people like he does, though he cheered that right-wing transphobia is spreading:

The largely godless liberal media are in the tank for Pride Month, worshipping at the altar of the LGBTQ. On Thursday’s CBS Mornings, the crew teamed with an advocate for lesbians in IT (no, this wasn’t concocted by Babylon Bee) to lament trans voices aren’t being “center[ed]” in business and, more broadly, America’s “moving backwards” on LGBTQ “issues” due to a “backlash” from hateful, “anti-trans” mobs upset with Anheuser-Busch and Target.

Leane Pittsford of Lesbians Who Tech and Allies preceded the pity party by explaining her organization came about after seeing “it was a real struggle to get women, non-binary leaders to participate.”

Houck bizarrely portrayed this segment as "bullying" -- because it pointed out the haters, apparently.

Another June 9 post by Nicholas Fondacaro -- whose main job at the MRC is to hate-watch "the View" -- portraying co-host Whoopi Goldberg as crazed for standing in support of transgender rights:

The most off-the-rails cast member was moderator Whoopi Goldberg, who would randomly spiral out of control in rage-fueled fits. “You are telling me that I don't know my family. You are telling me you know my kid. I’m telling you: you don't know my kid. You don’t know what I'm going through, you don’t know what I need, and you're not asking me,” she shrieked, condemning opposition to so-called “gender-affirming” surgeries that leave children mutilated and at risk for other health complications.

Addressing opponents directly, she accused them of “making them feel like they don't deserve to be here and that they don't deserve to live!” “This is on your hands! This is on your hands!” she screamed.

Goldberg’s tirade peaked as they went to a commercial break when she declared: “You are killing our children!”

Fondacaro didn't explain how right-wing transphobes supposedly know better about what's best for children than their own parents.

R. Emmett Tyrrell wrote a June 9 column with the headline "My Plan for the Transgenders" -- yes, he thinks "transgender" is a noun -- in which he demanded that there be "a third and, for that matter, a fourth category for the gender-revised athletes" and mocked transgender male athletes:

The guys may be bold enough to show up at a girls’ athletic events wearing a girls’ frilly competitive outfit. Think of the feminine frills worn by female tennis stars or the tattoos worn by women boxers. Yet even the toughest transgender guy has got to be shaken after one of the burly girls snickers at him/her or offers to hold his/her towel. There are dozens of ways to bully a transgender athlete, and no matter how aloof or calloused he or she might be, still every slight has its affect.

In a June 13 post, Tober was outraged that "a transgender TikTok influencer went completely topless" during a Pride Month event at the White House, which he claimed "sparked outrage at the lack of decorum at the White House." While he conceded that "Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemning the activist for stripping on White House grounds and informing them that they will not be allowed back," he whined that "big three evening news broadcasts continued ignoring the incident in order to minimize the embarrassment for the Biden administration" -- while of course crowing that Fox News gave the incident ample coverage -- going on to huff:

Regardless of who you are or what your sexual orientation is, it is thoroughly inappropriate to take off your clothes on White House property. It seems everyone from all sides of the political spectrum is in agreement except for the big three evening news broadcasts.

In another June 13 post, Christy complained that PBS interviewed a woman "who compared giving hormones to 8-year olds to treatment for an earache," asserting that the claim "should earn a 'pants-on-fire' rating" (but without explaining why). Then again, Christy thinks that small breasts in teenage girls is a "birth defect" that must be fixed by plastic surgery, so he may not be the best person to ask for medical advice. (Or maybe he's just turned on by large-breasted teen girls.)

Christy complained that there wasn't unanimous hatred of the topless transgender person at the White House in a June 15 post:

Rolling Stone’s Jay Michaelson spoke for all of CNN Tonight’s Wednesday panel when asked if it was wrong of a transgender activist to go topless at the White House with “yes, but” as he and his fellow panelists would equivocate on the “inappropriate” “act of joy.” Taking the top spot for outrageousness was The Root’s Jessica Washington who lamented the “oppressed have to be perfect 24/7.”

[...]

Michaelson also lamented that this story is even a story at all, “I don't want this to distract from what is really happening, which is tragic war on trans people in this country. A new study just came out that said 41 percent of LGBTQ young people between the ages of 13 and 22 have seriously considered suicide in the last year. That number is even higher for transgender people. And so, while this was a misguided act of celebration, it was one in the context of a community that is under siege right now.”

Camerota then tossed the conversation to 2022 New York GOP Senate candidate Joe Pinion who butchered the conservative position, “I think most Republicans that I know would agree that trans people do have to live in fear. Most people who are Republican, who are conservative believe you should be able to love who you want to love, define yourself on your own terms. That is a thing that most people agree with.”

Legally being able to identify how you want and expecting to be taken seriously or demanding the law acknowledge it as true are two very different things, but Pinion continued, “Certainly, there are people who are bigoted, who have always used the urge to protect the children or to follow the faith, to justify some of the darkest chapters in American history.”

Christy didn't explain how, exactly, Pinion "butchered the conservative position" on transgender people -- which does, in fact, have as a key component spewing hate at them and denying their rights.

A June 15 post by Mandelburg cheered a right-wing congressman for playing gotcha on a witness at a hearing about gender-affirming treatment:

Oh really? I wonder why?

During a House hearing Wednesday, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) debated witness Dr. Meredithe McNamara, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine. When Crenshaw asked McNamara about benefits of trans procedures for kids, she couldn’t name a single study that pointed them out.

Crenshaw recently proposed provisions that would remove federal funding from hospitals who provide transgender procedures for minors. Said procedures would include things like puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or surgeries.

As reported by the "Washington Examiner," Crenshaw’s resolution would “remove federal dollars from facilities that perform these controversial treatment therapies in a similar manner as the Hyde Amendment removes funding for abortion procedures.” Essentially, training hospitals who teach about how to treat trans kids would be denied funding from the federal government. Presently, 58 hospitals receive that funding but if Crenshaw's proposal is instated, its highly likely that number would go down.

As a matter of fact, 70 percent of taxpayers opposed the “barbaric treatment” on minors, as Crenshaw mentioned to assist his point that these treatments shouldn't receive federal funding.

[...]

Of course, McNamara couldn’t name any of the benefits of trans surgeries for kids because - well, there are none. There’s nothing positive about chemically or surgically castrating anyone, nevermind a child. There’s nothing beneficial about mutilating an innocent, God-designed body to fulfill a complete and utter delusion. There’s no perks of training doctors on how to provide life threatening and life changing procedures to kids that frankly, do not need said procedures at all.

Crenshaw’s argument pointed that out clearly while squashing McNamara’s, so-called "rebuttals."

But Mandelburg offered no evidence Crenshaw allowed McNamara to answer his questions; her excerpts of the exchange largely involved Crenshaw interrupting and talking over her.

And we're still only halfway through the month. More to come.