NYT Misses What's True and Important About an Anti-Trans School Resolution

Julie Hollar

The New York Times has become notorious for its role in laundering right-wing transphobia for its largely liberal audience (see, e.g., FAIR.org, 12/16/22, 5/11/23, 5/19/23). A recent article (5/20/24) about local school politics serves as yet another example of how the paper's anti-trans agenda most likely flies under the radar of most readers—making its propaganda that much more effective.

The headline read, "NYC Parents Rebuked for Questioning Transgender Student-Athlete Rules." The subhead explained further:

Over a dozen Democratic elected officials criticized a parent group that asked for a review of rules that let students play on sports teams that align with their gender identity.

It's a framing clearly intended to portray the parents as reasonable—they just want to ask questions and review some rules!—and the city officials as censorious. After all, who rebukes people for just wanting to have a conversation?

'Asked the city to review'

The New York Times (5/20/24) framed a story about a transphobic resolution as "parents" being attacked for merely "questioning."

The article, by education reporter Troy Closson, began by describing "a group of elected parent leaders"--representing District 2, one of six Manhattan school districts--who "asked the city to review education department rules allowing transgender students to play on sports teams that align with their gender identity."

"Elected," so they must be representative, and simply "asked…to review," so there's presumably nothing anyone should get upset about. At least, as far as Times readers would be able to tell.

And what was the response? Closson tells readers:

The schools chancellor, David C. Banks, called the proposal “despicable” and “no way in line with our values.”

Democratic officials also have responded to the parent council swiftly, and angrily.

In a letter made public on Monday, a coalition of 18 Democratic elected officials from New York called the proposal “hateful, discriminatory and actively harmful” to the city’s children.

New York City's Democrats sure sound extreme! Closson did finally give readers at least a glimpse of the other side's perspective:

The officials argued that while some parents say they were “simply asking for a conversation,” the resolution “was based in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric” that has helped fuel harassment and mental health issues for young people. They demanded that the council formally rescind the resolution.

Toward the end of the piece, Closson acknowledged that, according to another council member, the council "received dozens of messages in opposition and only a handful in support in the lead-up to their meeting on the resolution."

Crossing 'political lines'

The Times gave no further context about the resolution or the people behind it that could possibly make the officials' reactions make sense.

Instead, to help readers understand how out of the mainstream those Democratic officials are, Closson wrote, "But opinions on this issue don’t necessarily break neatly along political lines." He offered a poll of "registered voters statewide" that found about two-thirds support barring trans athletes from competing with others who share their gender identity, with Republican respondents 30 percentage points more supportive than Democrats.

Of course, New York state is far more conservative than New York City (5–4 Democrat to Republican statewide, versus about 7–1 in the city), so it's not a very useful barometer of NYC public opinion.

But perhaps more importantly, is it really the opinions of ill-informed voters that should matter here? Or is it the safety and well-being of the city's public school students?

Like most Times articles about trans politics that FAIR has analyzed (FAIR.org, 5/6/21, 6/23/22, 5/11/23), Closson's piece marginalized the voices of those most impacted. The piece quoted no students; it quoted one trans person—an "educator who runs a local after-school program"—who opposed the resolution. The rest were officials and parent council members.

A pointless 'review'

The New York Times didn’t mention that the rules the resolution called for “reviewing” in fact are required under state law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression (CNN, 5/11/24).

Reading about the incident in outlets focused on education news, you get a very different understanding of the situation—including what the resolution could do. And there's much more backstory to these "concerned parents" than the Times lets on.

First of all, as ACLU lawyer (and trans parent in District 2) Chase Strangio pointed out at the meeting, New York City school guidelines on trans youth athletes already align with state law.

Indeed, when a Republican county executive tried to ban trans athletes from competing on women's teams in nearby Nassau County, the state attorney general sent him a cease-and-desist letter for contravening New York's law against gender identity discrimination. A state judge (CNN, 5/11/24) struck down the executive order shortly before the Times article on the school council resolution, suggesting that any sort of "review" of the city's school anti-discrimination policy would likewise serve no purpose—other than scoring cheap political points by targeting a vulnerable student population.

That would be nothing new for some of the supposedly representative and reasonable leaders involved. For the real story here, you need a little bit of context about those leaders.

Community education councils in New York City, unlike school boards in many places, have no authority to change school policies; their resolutions are nonbinding and their role is advisory only. In part because of this—and because prior to 2021, council positions were filled by PTAs, not by popular vote—awareness of and participation in the elections are both extremely low, making them easy targets for small but organized activist groups. (In the 2021 elections, only 2% of eligible voters participated.)

Out of PLACE

PLACE co-founder Maud Maron (The City, 4/28/23) called New York City schools an “oppressor woke environment where DOE employees make them pledge allegiance to their LGBTQI+ religion.”

In New York, just such a group took advantage of that low-hanging fruit: PLACE NYC. Founded in 2019 to oppose city efforts to address some of the worst school segregation rates in the country by reforming screened admissions and gifted programs, PLACE-endorsed candidates won a whopping 40% of council seats in the 2023 elections (The City, 4/28/23).

PLACE does not advertise a particular stance on LGBTQ issues, but its leadership overlaps with other "parent rights" groups that take anti-trans positions, including the far-right Moms for Liberty.

The anti-trans resolution in New York City's District 2 passed by 8 votes to 3. Of these eight concerned council members, seven were endorsed by PLACE in the 2023 elections, including three who are in leadership roles at the organization.

Leonard Silverman, president of the council, was quoted by the Times; it didn't mention that he is also a founder of PLACE. PLACE treasurer Craig Slutkin was another "yes" vote.

Another founder (and former president) of PLACE, Maud Maron, sponsored the anti-trans resolution. Maron is a well-known local activist, a proud member of the Moms for Liberty who, in an unsuccessful long-shot bid for Congress last year, advocated for a trans youth athlete ban. Maron and fellow council and PLACE member Charles Love spoke at a recent Moms for Liberty panel (Chalkbeat, 1/18/24).

'No such thing as trans kids'

A city councilmember characterized PLACE leaders' private texts as "demeaning, transphobic smears that are reminiscent of playground bullies" (The74, 12/14/23).

Back in December, education news site The74 (12/14/23) reported on a leaked WhatsApp chat among Maron, fellow council and PLACE member Danyela Egorov and other parent leaders. In it, Maron declared that "there is no such thing as trans kids." When a parent expressed concern about how many LGBTQ kids were in her child's school, Maron responded, "The social contagion is undeniable." She also falsely claimed of gender-affirming hormone therapy: "Some of these kids never develop adult genitalia and will never have full sexual function. It’s an abomination."

Three months later, Maron called an anonymous high school student who penned a pro-Palestinian op-ed in their school paper a "coward," and accused them of "Jew hatred" in the New York Post (2/24/24). After numerous parent and official complaints about her conduct, the NYC Department of Education (The74, 4/18/24) investigated and issued an order last month to Maron to

cease engaging in conduct involving derogatory or offensive comments about any New York City Public School student, and conduct that serves to harass, intimidate or threaten, including but not limited to frequent verbal abuse and unnecessary aggressive speech that serves to intimidate and cause others to have concern for their personal safety.

This very relevant context was reported just a few weeks before Closson's Times article.

PLACE and its controversial members and history are well known among local education activists and reporters. So Closson, who specifically covers the Times' "K–12 schools in New York City" beat, would appear to be either remarkably uninformed about his beat or intentionally obscuring the background to his story.

'An attempt to roll back protections'

Chalkbeat's report (4/23/24) put the focus on "protections for trans students," not on "questioning" parents.

Meanwhile, Chalkbeat (4/23/24), which covers education news in a handful of large US cities, covered the council meeting with the headline "An Attempt to Roll Back Protections for Trans Students in Sports Angers NYC Students and Families."

Unlike Closson, reporter Liz Rosenberg quoted a number of people directly impacted by the resolution: a local trans teen, a local seventh grader who had started a Gay/Straight Alliance, and a parent who had moved to New York from Florida to protect her young trans child from the anti-trans laws there.

Rosenberg explained Maron's history, including the cease-and-desist letter she had received only a week before the meeting. She quoted experts who described the documented negative impacts on trans kids when exclusionary or restrictive anti-trans laws are enacted, including a sharp rise in K–12 hate crimes against LGBTQ students.

Over at The74 (3/22/24), Marianna McMurdock also provided the back story on Maron. She noted, as Closson did not, that "dozens of community members spoke out against the gender resolution with only one expressing support." According to McMurdock, the messages received by the council about the resolution were even more lopsided than Closson reported: 173–2.

Where Closson wrote that it was “unclear…whether the issue has affected sports teams in the city,” but that “some parents worried that their children could be disadvantaged or injured if transgender girls joined girls’ teams,” even non-local outlet Politico (3/20/24) noted directly that there was no evidence that any cisgender girls in the district had been harmed by the city schools’ policy.

In other words, it's not terribly difficult to provide the kind of context that helps readers understand what's "true and important" about this story. But on trans issues, the New York Times has proven itself time and again less interested in what's true and important than in acting as a trojan horse for organized right-wing transphobia.

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