On June 15th, New York Times Magazine published a feature article titled “The Battle Over Gender Therapy.” As some of the individuals interviewed for this piece, we hold grave concerns for the framing of the article, the inconsistencies between the framing we were told and what has been published, and the impact it will have on the larger political sphere.
The co-developers of Health Liberation Now!, Lee Leveille and Ky Schevers, were interviewed by the journalist Emily Bazelon on January 21st. Prior to this we had a brief email exchange with Bazelon on January 11th and 12th, during which we inquired as to her interest area surrounding de/retransition experiences and what we should discuss. During this email exchange Bazelon referenced Leveille’s report When Ex-Trans Worlds Collide, which covers the collaborative relationship between anti-trans detransitioned activists with conversion therapy groups in order to undermine access to gender affirming care in favor of targeted conversion practices. Bazelon then informed us of the following framing for our interview:
“I’m trying to understand the different elements of this phenomenon […] I know there are people who experience intense regret, as Bell’s lawsuit makes clear, but I think it’s also important to show that people just move on to different thinking or feelings about gender identity without regretting the earlier steps. I’ve done some interviews to that effect but not with people who consider themselves detransitions. They’ve just changed their medical interventions. I’d like to get a fuller picture of how this fits together, or is in separate pieces, socially and politically.”
Given this framing, we proceeded to schedule our interview, in which Lee Leveille and Ky Schevers talked in length about how detransition can manifest as a form of self- and socially-imposed conversion practices. During the interview we discussed how predatory groups such as Genspect and Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network (GCCAN) will use detransition narratives surrounding regret and calls for assessment to advance expansion of sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts (SOGICE), or “conversion therapy”. We discussed how it is critical to be wary of demonstrably anti-trans groups or clinicians that heavily market themselves and their products. Lee Leveille, who grew up disabled and who has experience making a range of complicated medical decisions in collaboration with his/her family, also discussed the importance of giving children space to grow and explore their gender without the invasive scrutiny or authoritarian control so often imposed on transgender youth. Ableism, ageism, transphobia, and psychophobia all interconnect, and so it is essential to work with youth about their needs and what it means for any medical care sought.
During the interview, Bazelon told Health Liberation Now! that covering trans health care was not her area of expertise and asked for our advice on how to approach the issue. Lee Leveille recommended seeking outside consultation with experienced trans journalists who are familiar with covering trans health care. S/he suggested reaching out to the Trans Journalists Association for guidance or referencing their published Style Guide. At the time, Bazelon appeared to take the advice on board.
Since the publication of the article it is apparent that both our cautions and our advice went unheard. While there is care given to include the experiences of a range of individuals, the article also included members of Genspect and the current president of GCCAN without appropriate transparency about their extensive lobbying.
The section interviewing “several Genspect parents” failed to reflect how multiple Genspect members are active in clinic protests that have led to trans health care providers having to “evaluate our [sic] safety systems for our [sic] patients, families, and staff”. Dr. Gina Sequeira, facing some of the protests in Seattle, pleaded that they “don’t need kids to have to walk through a gauntlet of protesters to get care.” Being the primary researchers tracking these protests in 2021, with video of what they entail, we agree wholeheartedly with Sequeira’s description of them as a “gauntlet” that no one – let alone a child – should have to be exposed to.
The New York Times article also fails to report on the group’s extensive collaboration with faith-based lobbying groups for SOGICE in order to undermine efforts to ban conversion therapy. Our report A New Era: Key Actors Behind Anti-Trans Conversion Therapy, published prior to the New York Times article, goes into these ties extensively. These efforts are facilitated by Genspect’s founder and director Stella O’Malley, who is also on audio record as stating that her main priority is to “make sure that children are, if- if at all possible, are stopped from medical transition” and regarding her teenage transfeminine clients as having porn-induced autogynephilia. Such kinds of efforts and beliefs have led to training conferences held by the NHS being canceled after concerns were raised by whistleblowers about Genspect’s extensive presence on the speaker panel.
Finally, the New York Times article fails to transparently reflect the activist position of Grace Lidinksy-Smith, the President of GCCAN. This is an ongoing issue: 60 Minutes has similarly failed to report on this back in 2021, a point then challenged by GLAAD, NLGJA: the Association of LGBTQ Journalists, and reporters Esther Wang, James Factora, and Trudy Ring. Our report When Ex-Trans Worlds Collide references the fact that Lidinksy-Smith’s Newsweek article “There’s No Standard for Care When it Comes to Trans Medicine” is used by former Liberty Counsel attorney Mary E. McAlister to target gender affirming surgery coverage for trans teens. It was one of the citations in the amicus brief filed in DH v Snyder by Keira Bell of Bell v Tavistock (UK) alongside several other detransitioners (including a Genspect team member), a representative of DetransVoices, and Kathy Grace Duncan of the ex-LGBTQ ministry Portland Fellowship. In addition, while the article was in production a board member of GCCAN represented the organization in favor of the same Ohio bill that Bazelon covers extensively as targeting trans youth and their health care providers. By providing cover for the groups Bazelon and the New York Times adds fuel to the fire of the very political climate described as a “battle”.
At the time of our initial interview, we were already well into the process of researching and documenting a network of groups and individuals promoting anti-trans conversion therapy. Much of the information we had gathered was available prior to our interview or publication of the New York Times article. When we spoke, Bazelon gave the impression that she would likely be in touch with us again for further questions or comments but we never heard back from her. Since our interview with Bazelon, we’ve done exhaustive amounts of research that could have been provided to her had a follow-up interview been done. This lack of follow-up, ironically given the subject of the article, demonstrates a clear lack of concern for how pro-conversion therapy activism shapes the political landscape for trans health care.
According to the New York Time’s Ethical Journalism standards, described as “A Handbook of Values and Practices for the News and Opinion Departments”:
“Staff members who plagiarize or who knowingly or recklessly provide false information for publication betray our fundamental pact with our readers. We will not tolerate such behavior.”
Given the information provided in the report referenced by Bazelon in her inquiry, subsequent information readily available in following reports by Health Liberation Now!, and the referenced Genspect-affiliated PITT Substack article “IT’S STRATEGY PEOPLE!!” where Bazelon admits being aware of Genspect’s intentional deception to the media, Health Liberation Now! views the New York Times article as knowingly or recklessly providing false information for publication.
Media portrayals on de/retransition, particularly in the framing of regret or mental health assessment, have aggravated the very political battle that Bazelon references in the article. In doing so, the New York Times feeds into the ongoing disinformation campaign we caution about in When Ex-Trans Worlds Collide. They do so using a platform with significant national and international reach, inevitably impacting trans and gender diverse communities worldwide due to journalistic malpractice. This could have been avoided had Bazelon followed our advice to seek guidance from the Trans Journalists Association or utilize their style guide when writing her report.
It should be noted that Health Liberation Now! is not the only source interviewed to have expressed their positions as having been misrepresented, altered, or omitted entirely. This includes a wide range of BIPOC parent advocates for trans youth, trans health professionals and historians, and researchers who have all been clear about the benefits of gender affirmation for trans youth and the dangers of politicizing their bodies in a hostile, cis- and white supremacist society.
As such, Health Liberation Now! is calling upon the New York Times to:
- do a thorough investigation into the procedures for producing the article in question;
- be fully transparent with the public about the nature of this investigation, areas explored, and its findings;
- be fully transparent about the nature of the people who were interviewed for the piece, including within the article itself;
- remove references to Genspect and their affiliates, given their political lobbying and admitted strategy of misrepresenting themselves to media outlets to expand reach;
- provide clear editorial notes about retractions and changes at the top of the article instead of at the bottom where few will read;
- engage in restorative justice with those interviewed, for those of us who wish to, and with the broader transgender community;
- hire and collaborate with trans journalists and researchers for the appropriate coverage in future pieces.
Signed,
Ky Schevers
Co-Developer
Lee Leveille
Co-Developer