Advocate NL 6/23/26

A new data investigation says The New York Times increasingly framed transgender rights as a debate instead of a lived reality. The Gray Lady -- or rather, the Times’ senior vice president of communications -- had some things to say about that.

Audience Editor Edgar Ramirez here, back in your inbox on this Tuesday.

As Christopher Wiggins reports, an analysis published by civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo in The Dissident reviewed 3,242 Times articles published between 2014 and early 2026. The analysis identified three broad eras in Times coverage: a “tipping point” period from 2014 to 2017, a quieter and more neutral period from 2018 to 2021, and a marked shift beginning in 2022, when coverage of transgender issues increased and became more centered on medical skepticism, youth gender-affirming care, and political conflict, Caraballo explained.

“This isn’t about any individual story,” Caraballo, who said the project took her two months to complete, told The Advocate in an interview. “This is about the whole corpus of how they’ve covered trans issues over time.”

You can find out how Caraballo compiled her data here.

The New York Times did not initially respond to The Advocate’s request for comment. After the story was published, the paper rejected the analysis and denied that its coverage is biased or anti-trans. In a statement to The Advocate, Danielle Rhoades Ha, the Times’ senior vice president of communications, said the paper’s role is “to report accurate, fact-based information on all aspects of a story to help the public understand vital issues better.”

Though as Wiggins reminds us, Caraballo's findings build on years of criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates, transgender journalists, and media watchdogs who say the Times often writes about transgender people without centering them as sources. As The Advocate reported in May, an Assigned Media analysis found that the Times produced more transgender-related coverage than any other outlet examined but was the least likely to quote transgender people or trans advocacy organizations in stories primarily focused on transgender issues.

The pattern also mirrors findings from a 2024 analysis by GLAAD and Media Matters, which The Advocate previously reported on.

You can find the full statement from the Times and Caraballo's data investigation all in this story from Wiggins.

Thanks folks, we'll be back tomorrow!

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